RWC Draw
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Delighted about all that. Such amateurism from Europe Rugby on so many levels.
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A Rugby Europe Independent judicial committee has sanctioned five players, including a 43-week ban handed to replacement back row Sebastien Rouet for physical abuse of a match official and verbal abuse. Scrumhalf Guillaume Rouet has received 36 weeks for the same offences, while Pierre Barthere, Lucas Guillaume and Mathieu Belie have been given 14 weeks each for threatening actions/words directed at a match official.Lengthy bans for Spanish rugby players after Belgian blow-up
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@stargazer Good. Their behaviour was unacceptable and a clear example of pre-determination.
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Geezus, World Rugby is really stuffing this up!
Rugby's double standards - eligibility debacle to hamstring Samoan World Cup hopes
Manu Samoa's place at the 2019 Rugby World Cup may be in further doubt - thanks to more bungling from the powers that be. The Samoans were set to play off against either Spain or Portugal in June for a place at next year's tournament in Japan. But they might not have their best players available, now that World Rugby has launched an investigation into reports of Belgium and Romania fielding ineligible players in earlier RWC qualifying rounds. And unlike the situation with Oceania neighbours Tahiti, who were disqualified after also fielding an ineligible player against the Cook Islands in March, it seems the Belgians and Romanians might get another chance to qualify. If replays of the affected matches are allowed, it'll delay the final qualifier involving Samoa from June until July-August, when some of their best players will be unavailable, due to pre-season commitments with their European clubs. Fiji star Nemani Nadolo has fired up on Twitter about the saga. "What a JOKE!!" the former Crusaders wing wrote. "This just makes it messy for the Manu Samoa players and their pro clubs overseas! July/August is an important time for prepping with the new season... It's tough as it is trying to convince our clubs to go play for our countries!" Many top Samoans play for the wealthy European clubs in leagues such as France's Top 14 and those clubs don't have to release their players outside the June test window.Pacific Rugby Players chief executive Aayden Clarke calls the situation "definitely not ideal" and points out that the vetting process around player eligibility should have been sorted out before kickoff. "We wouldn't be in this situation if all the 'i's had been dotted and the 't's crossed, but it's just about dealing with that now," Clarke told Newshub. "From a players' perspective, the uncertainty of when they'll be playing and so forth is definitely not ideal." There was already controversy around Belgium's last match against Spain in March, won 18-10 by the Belgians, but refereed by a Romanian. That result had initially sent Romania through to the next round. The Spaniards had earlier officially questioned the official's appointment over possible bias, but were ignored by governing body Rugby Europe, whose president, Octavian Morariu, is also Romanian. Rugbyworld.com reports that World Rugby had initially felt a Belgium-Spain replay would be in the game's best interests. But after news emerged of the latest eligibility debacle, the governing body convened an emergency committee to investigate, before determining what steps to take next. The fresh controversy surrounds a Tongan-born centre who played for Romania and a French-born hooker who played for Belgium. Sione Faka'osilea qualified for Romania through residency, but played one World Series tournament for Tonga's national sevens team back in 2013, ruling him ineligible for his adopted country. Victor Paquet represented France up to under-19 level and reportedly claimed a Belgian great grandmother, but only the birth nation of a grandparent or parent provides that eligibility under World Rugby regulations. Clarke expects World Rugby's hearing to conclude this week and says the Samoans will just play the cards that they've been dealt. But the eligibility saga is again set to adversely impact on the poorer Pacific Island nations, rather than more populous and wealthier European countries.Newshub
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Yes, it's a debacle.
But, the newshub report above didn't give an accurate picture for the delay due to player eligibilty doubts. Mentioning only a 'Romanian' and a 'Belgian'. There's also a 'Spaniard' who played for France U20s at the time France had their U20s designated as their second team.
While at first glance it would seem be fairly simple to me, they're both disqualified - but from my understanding i think, the investigation is needing to deal with;
- Rumania believe they did their due diligence by requesting clearance from the Tongan RU checking if the player had been captured, and Tonga replied he hadn't. So believe their 'due-diligence' had been performed but upended by TRU incompetence
- Spain claim the French U20 player needed to be informed, and sign some form, that the 20 match would 'capture' him - and he didn't/wasn't.
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Spain had previously been fined for playing a French Sevens player (in REC 2015 I think). They initially had two players under question re French U20s: Belie and Fuster.
World Rugby has a real conundrum here. Tahiti were disqualified. Spain previously got fined. But, Russia made the eligibility complaint against Romania - having been investigated previously themselves. Whatever is decided, there will be some very unhappy people citing consistency and precedents.
But, I do feel sorry for the Samoan coaches and players if they have to amend travel plans, training plans etc, when they have to assemble players from all over the world outside the main international window. It is similar for Portugal, who await their opponent in a playoff to play Samoa.
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I think it is utterly idiotic that WR lets individual unions chose whether their U20s is their second team of not. They should really decide one way or another so it's a level playing field.
That has at lease been changed. Unions can't assign their U20s as their second team anymore, that was changed last year.
Unions may no longer nominate their U20s team as their next senior national representative team, effective 1 January, 2018. (majority)
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^^ Although there will still be confusion moving forward probably, because the unions can "nominate' who their second team is.
E.g. A confusing example from last year while the U20s were still an acceptable second team:
World Rugby announces changes to Eligibility regulations - Americas Rugby News
The votes are in, and the changes promised and spearheaded by World Rugby Vice-Chairman Agustín Pichot have been made. In fact the changes to Regulation 8 regarding international regulations have gone beyond what was hoped. The changes not only affect residency but also the ‘capturing’ of u20 and...
For example England Saxons recently traveled to play South Africa ‘A’, but because South Africa had nominated their u20 side as their ‘next senior representative team’, the matches did not count towards the eligibility regulations, an obviously ridiculous situation.
There will still be room for confusion as the IRB let the unions nominate the team, rather than create a structured sector called "A Internationals".
So the FFR last year announced they had set up a deal with French Barbarians as their second team. A historical invitation club associated with festival rugby ...
The Saxons, the JABS, Emerging Springboks, another team with festival roots Irish Wolfhounds.
The All Blacks last year played a France XV, while the Maori All Blacks played the French Barbarians, none of these are capture international games.
There will be more clusterfucks in the future.
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^^ Although there will still be confusion moving forward probably, because the unions can "nominate' who their second team is.
E.g. A confusing example from last year while the U20s were still an acceptable second team:
The votes are in, and the changes promised and spearheaded by World Rugby Vice-Chairman Agustín Pichot have been made. In fact the changes to Regulation 8 regarding international regulations have gone beyond what was hoped. The changes not only affect residency but also the ‘capturing’ of u20 and...
For example England Saxons recently traveled to play South Africa ‘A’, but because South Africa had nominated their u20 side as their ‘next senior representative team’, the matches did not count towards the eligibility regulations, an obviously ridiculous situation.
There will still be room for confusion as the IRB let the unions nominate the team, rather than create a structured sector called "A Internationals".
So the FFR last year announced they had set up a deal with French Barbarians as their second team. A historical invitation club associated with festival rugby ...
The Saxons, the JABS, Emerging Springboks, another team with festival roots Irish Wolfhounds.
The All Blacks last year played a France XV, while the Maori All Blacks played the French Barbarians, none of these are capture international games.
There will be more clusterfucks in the future.
Actually, France designated the French Barbarians as it's second national XVs team from July 2017.
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@stargazer said in RWC Draw:
^^ Although there will still be confusion moving forward probably, because the unions can "nominate' who their second team is.
E.g. A confusing example from last year while the U20s were still an acceptable second team:
The votes are in, and the changes promised and spearheaded by World Rugby Vice-Chairman Agustín Pichot have been made. In fact the changes to Regulation 8 regarding international regulations have gone beyond what was hoped. The changes not only affect residency but also the ‘capturing’ of u20 and...
For example England Saxons recently traveled to play South Africa ‘A’, but because South Africa had nominated their u20 side as their ‘next senior representative team’, the matches did not count towards the eligibility regulations, an obviously ridiculous situation.
There will still be room for confusion as the IRB let the unions nominate the team, rather than create a structured sector called "A Internationals".
So the FFR last year announced they had set up a deal with French Barbarians as their second team. A historical invitation club associated with festival rugby ...
The Saxons, the JABS, Emerging Springboks, another team with festival roots Irish Wolfhounds.
The All Blacks last year played a France XV, while the Maori All Blacks played the French Barbarians, none of these are capture international games.
There will be more clusterfucks in the future.
Actually, France designated the French Barbarians as it's second national XVs team from July 2017.
Yes, but they played the MABs who aren't NZ's second team.
But if the French Barbarians were to play the Emerging Springboks on a Wednesday with the wind blowing from the southeast, that will be a capture match.
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Mess officially sorted, line drawn under and no one did it on purpose.
http://www.scottishrugby.org/news/18/05/15/russia-replace-romania-rwc2019-pool
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World Rugby has announced the rescheduling of Samoa’s Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification matches within a new programme of matches in June and July. The programme will provide certainty for the union, players and fans, while maximising preparation in advance of the qualifiers. 16/05/2018 02:59 Rescheduling is necessary to maximise time following the conclusion of independent disputes committee review of matters relating to the 2017-18 Rugby Europe Championship, a competition run by Rugby Europe that doubles as Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification. Subject to any appeal of the disputes committee's decision, the winner of the European play-off between Germany and Portugal, provisionally scheduled for 9 June will play Samoa home and away in the play-off to determine the final Pool A place. The first leg will be played in Apia on 30 June with the return leg in Europe on 14 July. The winner on aggregate will qualify for Japan 2019 as the play-off winner, joining Ireland, Scotland, Japan and Russia in Pool A. The loser will progress to the Repechage competition in November. The rescheduled dates will enable the least-possible disruption for Samoa’s European and Southern Hemisphere based players, who will be released under Regulation 9, which covers all Rugby World Cup qualifiers. It also enables all qualifiers to be completed prior to the Repechage competition. In order to maximise Samoa’s preparation for these important matches, World Rugby is also funding Samoa’s entry into the 2018 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup in Fiji between 9-16 June, which features Fiji, Georgia and Tonga. World Rugby would like to thank all unions for their patience and full support of the rescheduled fixtures which provide certainty for teams and fans.What I find interesting is this bit:
The rescheduled dates will enable the least-possible disruption for Samoa’s European and Southern Hemisphere based players, who will be released under Regulation 9, which covers all Rugby World Cup qualifiers.
There was a lot of outrage a few weeks ago about changes to the June schedule on WR's website (without any explanation or announcement), with people assuming there was some kind of conspiracy against Samoa because they wouldn't be able/allowed to field their players from the European competitions. Apparently, no one bothered to check the rules again (nor did they notice that the same would apply to their European opponent, with Spain/Portugal etc also having players in those European competitions). Good to see all international players must be released by clubs.
From Regulation 9:
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More to the point is that WR are now funding Samoa for the quadrangular in Suva. So, they should now be better financially resourced to prepare and field a better team for the RWC qualifier events.
If they were still to play Romania or Spain that could have been an issue. But, they should account for Portugal or Germany ok.
