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World Rugby has disqualified Tahiti from RWC Qualifiers, eliminating the 2017 Oceania Rugby Cup Winner with immediate effect.
Tahiti defeated the Cook Islands 13-9 on August 4, 2017, to qualify for the Asia / Oceania play-off for the Repechage. But now World Rugby has overruled the victory with Tahiti being deemed guilty of fielding ineligible players.
The Cook Islands filed a complaint to World rugby over the players and ultimately won. In doing so not only has Tahiti been disqualified but the Cook Islands now advance to play in the Asia / Oceania play-off. Home-and-away matches will be in June and July.
The case was heard by Independent Judicial Officer Tim Gresson (New Zealand). He determined that the Tahiti Rugby Union had breached Regulation 8 by fielding two ineligible players for the match.
Spain and Romania
This decision comes at a time when World Rugby is under fire. Severe criticism has been directed at the organization and its allowing for three Romanian officials to take charge of the Belgium vs Spain this past weekend.
A win for Spain would have seen them qualify for RWC 2019 while a loss meant Romania qualified. Rugby Europe had previously denied Spain’s request to change the officials and a heavily-skewed penalty count during the match prompted ugly scenes at the finale. The situation remains under review.
Canada
Awaiting the result of the Asia / Oceania play-off is Canada. The North Americans finished their RWC qualifiers in the Americas as Americas 3. Both the USA and Uruguay qualified, joining Argentina in Japan 2019.
Canada hope to continue their proud record of playing in all RWC tournaments. Doing so requires winning the Repechage. The four-team tournament will take place in November.
The Asia / Oceania play-off will claim one of the three remaining spots. The two others are to go to Africa 2 and the Europe / Oceania play-off loser. As it stands Spain are to face Portugal home-and-away in June, pending the outcome of the World Rugby investigation. Spain have officially requested that the match against Belgium be replayed.
