RWC Draw
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Spain tear Germany apart in front of 15,000 crowd
Spain are one win away from a place at Rugby World Cup 2019 after recording a comprehensive 84-10 win over Germany in front of King Felipe VI of Spain and the Webb Ellis Cup in Madrid on Sunday. With Romania having scored a bonus-point win over Belgium, Spain are now three points behind The Oaks in European qualification with a game in hand, and a win against Belgium in Brussels next weekend will see them qualify for the first time since 1999. The team that finishes top in the Rugby Europe Championship standings over 2017-18 (other than Georgia) will qualify into Pool A alongside Ireland, Scotland, hosts Japan and the Play-Off winner. The runner-up will play Portugal in a play-off with the winner progressing to play Samoa home and away. The winner on aggregate will qualify in Pool A, while the loser will face the four-team Repechage in November. -
@taniwharugby said in RWC Draw:
@akan004 although history says if you drop a game, you are done...but then history told us we couldn't go back to back nor could we win in the NH, shows what history knew!
Mind you France '11 and England '07 gave that idea a tickle.
England '91
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@stargazer said in RWC Draw:
Potentially a very dodgy result...in a match in which a Spanish loss would send Romania through...all the match officials were apparently Romanian. Penalty count was I think 22-3 in favour of Belgium - and no, in case anyone was wondering, Wayne Barnes is not half-Romanian.
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WR finds another way to shoot themselves in the foot.
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@billy-tell said in RWC Draw:
@stargazer said in RWC Draw:
Potentially a very dodgy result...in a match in which a Spanish loss would send Romania through...all the match officials were apparently Romanian. Penalty count was I think 22-3 in favour of Belgium - and no, in case anyone was wondering, Wayne Barnes is not half-Romanian.
Oh, wow.
But, in some guiltyish way, I'm a little bit proud that RWC has reached a level of FIFA like intrigue ...... it's like ARG 5 PERU 0 in 1978 .....
Although I would have liked Spain to qualify, someone new.
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@Billy-Tell @Bovidae Geez, I can certainly understand Spain's frustration. I'd be fuming. Dodgy as. Whoever appointed the refs, World Rugby or Rugby Europe, should give themselves an uppercut. They knew what was at stake and who was to benefit from a loss to Spain. Even if the ref did his job well, there would always be suspicions/questions. They should have appointed refs from countries that had no interest in the outcome. What a farce.
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Ha, just read online that Rugby Europe was responsible for the appointment of the Romanian referees in the Belgium v Spain test. Guess where the current President of Rugby Europe comes from?
Also, Spain had requested well before the test to have another referee team appointed.
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This is the dignified response of the Spaniards.
They can piss off. World Rugby should preemptively ban them from the next RWC.
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I was watching this game live on TV thinking that Spain is getting reffed off the park here... it was really obvious to the point that the Ref even looked a little embarrassed/guilty at times. Spain were never allowed into the game.
At the end when the Spanish players rushed I was like Nooooooooo don´t be dickheads... hot headed Latin blooded divers etc.
But it wasn't until later that I realised Romania benefitted from the whole debacle... then I was like their reaction is not totally unjustified.
This is a once in a generation team from Spain. What recourse does a small union like Spain have when this sort of corruption denies them their legitimate shot at the RWC... I don´t like that behaviour but at least it has called attention to bullshit corrupt reffing. -
World rugby have sent a « please explain » to European rugby.
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The game needs to be replayed
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@baron-silas-greenback Agree 100%, but will Rugby Europe/World Rugby have the guts to take that decision?
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While I don’t condone rushing a ref like that, if he was corrupt maybe he deserved it?
Neutral refs are important to avoid even the appearance of corruption or bias. Something Super Rugby should consider with their cost cutting.
You could understand maybe one AR being Romanian, but all three?
Not to mention the language barrier you've already got with Belgian v Spanish.
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While I don’t condone rushing a ref like that, if he was corrupt maybe he deserved it?
Neutral refs are important to avoid even the appearance of corruption or bias. Something Super Rugby should consider with their cost cutting.
You could understand maybe one AR being Romanian, but all three?
Not to mention the language barrier you've already got with Belgian v Spanish.
Not really. I'd expect all 3 officials speaking the same language is pretty common/standard. That is the UEFA/FIFA soccer norm, and I'd imagine Rugby Europe would be influenced by that model. I say with absolutely no research whatsoever.
But this is a rugby body in which there are about 40 to 50 odd countries, of which only about 3 or 4 would share a language.
It should have been changed though when it was relaised that what would have been exepcted to be an unimportant obscure match at the time of scheduling had took on so much importance (for Romania as well as Spain), as apparently Spain did request,.
