Spanish players handed huge bans for abusing ref after disputed game

Five Spain internationalists have been banned for between 14 and 43 weeks for abusing a match official at the end of a controversial Rugby Europe Championship match against Belgium last month.

The Spanish team was incensed by the performance of referee Vlad Iordachescu in the 18-10 loss in Brussels which meant Spain missed out on automatic qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Members of Spain’s coaching team were forced to restrain their players and Romanian Iordachescu had to be escorted from the field.

A Rugby Europe Independent judicial committee sanctioned five of Spain’s team, with Sebastien Rouet receiving a 43-week ban for physical and verbal abuse of a match official. Guillaume Rouet received a 36-week ban, while Pierre Barthere, Lucas Guillaume and Mathieu Belie got 14-week suspensions.

Romania qualified for the World Cup because of Spain’s defeat. Both of Iordachescu’s assistants were also from Romania and World Rugby subsequently said it was “deeply concerned” about the choice of officials for the match because they were “not neutral in the context of qualification,” and that Rugby Europe failed to heed Spain’s request to change them.

In a separate case, World Rugby has ordered an independent review into Romania, Spain and Belgium possibly using ineligible players for Rugby Europe Championship games. If the breaches are found to be correct, Russia could end up qualifying.