World Rugby is investigating the appointment of Romanian rugby referees to a Spain-Belgium match, the outcome of which allowed Romania to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Spain would have qualified for the World Cup by winning Sunday’s match, but Belgium won in an upset, 18-10, scoring all of its points on penalty kicks. Instead of Spain earning the World Cup bid, it went to Romania for finishing second in the Rugby Europe Championship.
Spanish players confronted the head referee, Vlad Iordaschescu, after the game. Iordaschescu needed a security escort to leave the field.
Spain has already filed a complaint to Rugby Europe, which assigned the referee team to the game, and actually complained before the match as well.
The head of Rugby Europe, Octavian Morariu, also happens to be Romanian.
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