THE LAST WORD

LET’s find something positive amid the rubble. The only welcome upshot of the World Cup qualifying debacle is that samoa will be at the global gathering next year. The pacific island nation are not in the middle of a vintage era, but they should still be too strong for either portugal or Germany in a two-legged play-off. They are 16th in the world rankings, but have the potential to cause problems in pool a alongside ireland, scotland, Japan and a repechage winner.

World rugby have emphasised that regulation 9 — governing player release — must apply to the play-off fixtures, so samoa can be at full strength. That decree should guard against further injustice, to add to the turmoil which led to the disqualification of spain, romania and belgium. The primary conclusion is that Test rugby’s eligibility laws are a convoluted mess and need simplifying. harsh justice has been administered. now the system must be overhauled to avoid any such saga in future.