Italy and World Rugby face an escalating player eligibility scandal. Hot on the heels of Spain’s disqualification from Rugby World Cup 2023, serious questions have arisen concerning the eligibility of Italian players that played in past Rugby World Cups. Italy has capped many players from Argentina. Among them are Italy’s …
Read More »Third Italian World Cup player surfaces as ineligible
Urgent matters over rugby player eligibility have surfaced for the third time in a handful of days. The three players all played for Italy and enjoyed long careers. The three men also all played at Rugby World Cups. Player eligibility is defined in Regulation 8 by World Rugby. It can be achieved …
Read More »Eligibility doubts over second Italy player at Rugby World Cups
Rugby faces a problem. Spain qualified for Rugby World Cup 2023 in March. In April the governing body of the sport deducted 10 points from Spain’s Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifying matches. The result in June was that Spain was out of the World Cup. Gavin van den Berg was …
Read More »Urgent Questions asked of Italy Player Eligibility at Rugby World Cups
In a significant reveal for rugby, a top player took to the field for an elite country in four World Cups and played in over 100 test matches despite not being eligible to do so. Italy fielded an ineligible player at Rugby World Cup 2003 and in three subsequent tournaments. …
Read More »North America Feels the effects of global imbalance in World Cup Qualifying
The tide has turned; North America now feels the effects of a global imbalance in World Cup qualifying. Chile and Uruguay both qualified for Rugby World Cup 2023 ahead of North American opposition. This is a fundamental change. It follows repeated cycles wherein Sudamérica Rugby requested changes in the qualifying system …
Read More »What a 24 team Rugby World Cup could look like
The Men’s Rugby World Cup may expand from 20 to 24 teams. The possibility has been raised and debated for a long time by rugby supporters. It may change for RWC 2027 in Australia, but RWC 2031 in the USA is more probable. What would a 24 team Rugby World Cup look …
Read More »Classic Rugby World Cup Qualifying Matches
This past Sunday’s Rugby World Cup qualifier between Spain and Portugal was highly memorable. Los Leones were 33-28 winners in Madrid. In winning the match Spain qualified for RWC 2023. France 2023 will be Spain’s second RWC and first since 1999. Following the conclusion of the contest there were many …
Read More »Under the Michael Cheika Radar
The July 2022 Internationals will be a fresh page for Argentina. Los Pumas will be under the command of Michael Cheika. The Australian is proven to be an excellent coach; he took Australia to the Rugby World Cup Final in 2015 and won the URC and European Champions Cup with …
Read More »Rugby Championship Preparing for Life Without South Africa
The Rugby Championship is preparing for life without South Africa. This is the reality despite today’s announcement that the Four Nations tournament has officially been signed to continue until 2025. Writing for the Daily Mail, Chris Foy says that South Africa are going to replace Italy in the Six Nations …
Read More »The Next Argentine Coach?
The departure of Mario Ledesma as head coach of Los Pumas means a new coach will take charge of the team in 2022 and will coach the team to the World Cup in France in 2023. Who will be the new Argentine coach? The new coach could, in theory, be …
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