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Russia are protesting their RWC Qualifying matches against Romania, reports Rugger Info. It is the latest in the ongoing saga which is haunting Rugby Europe and World Rugby.
The publication notes that Russia’s RWC qualifying matches against the Oaks in 2017 and 2018 involved an illegal player. The player is question is Sione Faka’osilea who played Rugby Sevens for Tonga in 2012, making him bound to Tonga and unable to represent Romania.
Speaking on the matter was the Russian Rugby Federation Sports Director, Sergey Markov. He declared:
“Following the appearance of information in regards to Sione Faka’osilea, we did not reach any hasty conclusions, and we carefully studied the matter, as well as similar precedents. Now I can say that we believe that the Tongan has zero legal grounds to compete for the national team of Romania. Therefore, based on the collected facts we demand the cancellation of the results of the matches of the Russian test team involving his participation.”
Rugger Info notes that earlier today, March 29, the Russian Rugby Federation formalized and filed an official complaint to Rugby Europe and World Rugby concerning the above matter.
Addition details reported surround both Belgium and Spain. It points out that Russia has asked for Rugby Europe and World Rugby to verify the compliance of World Rugby rules on player eligibility for both countries.
A statement made by Markow read:
“According to the team lists of Spain and Belgium (for the RWC qualifiers), in which there also happen to be many nationalized rugby players, we do not have reliable data on the legitimacy of the application of players. But given that there has been a lot of conflicting information on this, we have asked World Rugby to clarify the matter.”
Russia’s protest comes in the same day as Rugby Europe postponing the decision on Belgium vs Spain controversy. Rugby Europe have now postponed their decision on two occasions.
Spain had lost a RWC qualifier against Belgium earlier this month. The match was officiated by Romanian referees despite Spain having requested that this be changed. Ultimately Romania qualified for RWC 2019 based on Belgium’s victory.
Spain filed a complaint asking for the match to be replayed. A review of the RWC Qualifier by Match Commissioner Michel Arpaillange is reported to have found that “two or three” actions of referee Vlad Iordachescu had a notable impact on the final result of the match, and that there was a “continual bias” benefitting Belgium.
Like Russia, Spain faced Romania with Sione Faka’osilea in their team. Indeed, the center started against Spain in the RWC qualifier in Madrid earlier this year.
