Beaumont must go into bat for smaller nations
SO is that it? Spain and Romania have finally been sent packing from the World Cup, and Belgium as well for that matter, but what about those who organised the 2017-2018 Rugby Europe Cup – which doubled as a World Cup qualifying tournament? Will there be any comeback for one of the most shambolic and flawed sporting events in recent history?
Rugby Europe were organisers in chief but World Rugby and Rugby World Cup were all over the competition as well, even though they have tried to retreat into the shadows. As I wrote nearly three months ago at the very dawn of this nonsense everybody in charge – those in paid positions – took their eyes off the ball yet there has been nothing by way of censure.
“It is important that the game learns from what were an unfortunate set of circumstances to prevent this from happening again,” says World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont, which frankly doesn’t quite cut the mustard.
This whole affair has been a horrible throwback to the incompetent bungling amateur days that rugby claims to have left behind. Large gins all round.
Not only did we have three sides being allowed to field ineligible players, the tournament was further tarnished by Germany who fielded their First XV for the first tranche of five matches in 2017 and then dishonoured the competition by putting out a Third XV in the last five matches after the Union and players became locked in a dispute.
Unsurprisingly Germany eventually finished bottom of the table, conceding 359 points in five games but after the disqualification of Spain, Romania and Belgium the Germans’ ‘reward’ is a World Cup play-off place against Portugal next week. Hideous.
Of course, it now seems those 30 players who were unavailable will now miraculously all be available for the showdown with Portugal who have been twiddling their thumbs for three months awaiting a decision. Germany might still be gunning for World Cup glory but this most definitely is not their finest moment.
Consider also that none of the matches against Georgia, who had prequalified for the World Cup, counted in the RWC qualifying part of the tournament so most teams put second XVs out against the Lelos which rendered those games useless in terms of Georgia’s development at a vital stage in their rugby history.
Then there was the scandalous appointment of three Romania officials for the Belgium v Spain match which would decide whether Romania or Spain progressed straight to the World Cup. Spain, of course, objected a month ahead of the game, as soon as the relevance of the match was known, but inexplicably Rugby Europe turned down their appeal.
Still we have no coherent explanation on this or indeed Vlad Iordăchescu’s appalling refereeing performance in Brussels and why it was left to Spain three days before the match to point out that Belgium had selected two ineligible players in their squad, who were promptly withdrawn.
Where was the match commissioner, why wasn’t he on the case for such an important match? Ironically if Spain had shut up the match would have automatically been awarded to them and they would still be preparing for a World Cup. Honesty almost never pays in sport.
Have World Rugby forgotten they themselves considered everything about the Brussels match so unsatisfactory, not to say downright dodgy, that they ordered a replay before the judicial committee and the lawyers got involved?
This was a tournament that literally ticked no boxes. It was a shambles and an embarrassment from start to finish.
Some good might yet come out of this affair which has at least shone a harsh light on the illogical eligibly regulations World Rugby have in place. So complicated, counter intuitive and verbose are the capture regulations in particular that a QC was hired, at great expense, to try and untangle them. And it took him over a month and many still think his ruling badly flawed.
The Unions were required to register players at the time when they were captured but didn’t, and World Rugby also ignored the part of the regulations which stipulates that they should be keeping a central data base so that any eligibility issue can be instantly cleared up, definitively, within hours. The RFU has had such a data place for its 500+ League teams for 20 years.
The draconian actions on players who in many cases – certainly with the French-based Spaniards – are digging deep into their pockets and paying to play for the land of their parents or grandparents is also in stark contrast with the rugby mercenaries who float around the world playing for whichever country can afford to pay for their loyalty, guaranteeing a lucrative three-year residency period with a hefty central contract.
World Rugby disgracefully turn a Nelsonian eye to this T1 ploy, the biggest stain on the rugby world at present. Regulations and disciplinary measures only really apply to T2 nations, who are treated like the great unwashed of world rugby.
All this has somehow become normal and accepted yet the much smaller countries are being chucked out on small point technicalities in badly drafted and poorly implemented regulations.
Mind you rugby is like that these days. A blatant three-yard forward pass is merrily waved on but a try can be disallowed because the shadow of a trailing boot appears to momentarily graze a touchline.
When exactly did rugby start to lose the plot? Answers on a postcard please.