Tahiti booted from World Cup qualifiers

The

Cook Islands have advanced to the next stage of qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup after Tahiti were found to have breached player eligibility regulations in their Oceania Cup clash last year.

Tahiti, boosted by their French club-based players, beat the Cooks 13-9 in Rarotonga last August to win the tournament for nations in the region ranked below Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. World Rugby said yesterday that the Cook Islands had asked for an investigation into the eligibility of players. (Reuters)