The Instagram of a Romanian player can give Spain back its options to go to the Rugby World Cup

• Passport forgery The wedding photo in South Africa that condemned the Spanish rugby team

• The intrahistory The "falsified" passport that leaves Spain without the Rugby World Cup

• Consequences The president of the Rugby Federation resigns amid criticism from the players and the CSD

• Sentence The Spanish rugby team is left out of the 2023 World Cup due to improper alignment of a player

Spain could regain their place in next year's Rugby World Cup for exactly the same reason they lost it.

The situation of the player Gavin Van den Berg, which led to the sanction of the national team since he had breached the residence regulations, has also occurred with a player from the Romanian national team, precisely the Federation that promoted the complaint against Spain.

According to the documentation to which EL MUNDO has had access,

, a Romanian player of New Zealand origin, breached that regulation, the famous 'Rule 8', in the qualifying phase for the World Cup, so that now

him and try to give him his place back.

The story is as follows.

On April 28, the Spanish rugby team was sanctioned without playing the 2023 World Cup because one of the internationals who had participated in the qualifying matches, Gavin Van den Berg, did not meet the old residence conditions required by World Rugby.

These rules established that, in order to acquire the status of 'eligible' by residence, the player had to have spent the previous three years uninterruptedly in Spain, and that he could only be absent for a maximum of 60 days per year (holidays, etc.). .).

In the case of Van den Berg, and following a complaint from Romania, World Rugby considered it proven, thanks to some posts on Instagram, that, in one of those three years, he had been on vacation for more than two months outside our borders, so that he sanctioned Spain without the points of the matches in which he had participated.

Well, the case of the Romanian player of New Zealand origin Jason Tomane is identical, according to his social networks.

Tomane made his debut with the Romanian national team in a friendly match against

on June 11, 2021. After this test, the Romanian coach used the player in an official match for the first time in November of that same year against

.

Already in 2022, he participates in the matches against

,

and

, the match played in Madrid being the only one in which he does not play all the minutes.

Two years before his first meeting with Romania, events occurred that cast doubt on his eligibility.

, the player published a

whose location corresponds to the city of

(Hungary), a border town with Romania.

In it, he poses with his wife, both dressed in summer clothes and in possession of a suitcase still sealed with the distinctive label of international airports.

Image from the player's Instagram account on August 7, 2019

After this first publication, on February 2022,

shared a snapshot on her social networks that would certify the presence of the player of New Zealand origin outside the Romanian borders for a longer time than allowed by international regulations.

"Szegez Synagogue, Hungary 2021, the second largest in Hungary, fourth largest in the world.

," reads the text that accompanies the image on his Instagram account. woman.

Image from the Instagram account of Tomane's wife in which she certifies that she was away for 3 months

The player spent, as stated by his wife on Instagram, around

during one of the three years prior to 2021, so the situation is identical to what happened with Gavin Van den Berg.

There would be a defense: that an extremely serious situation occurs for which the athlete must travel outside the country.

In all the documentation consulted by EL MUNDO, there is not a single document that points to this reason.

Spain's options now pass because World Rugby acts the same as in the Van den Berg case.

The Romanian Rugby Federation presented the allegations of the irregularity committed by Spain after the deadline.

However, his request was granted, arguing that Romania was unaware of the situation until it was filtered through a Russian medium.

In other words, it considered that the statute of limitations for the irregularity committed by Spain began to run from when Romania became aware of the facts, not from the moment they occurred.

Now,

so that its request is heard.

Should World Rugby decide to take up Spain's case and withdraw the relevant points from Romania, this sanction

.

If Romania lost the points corresponding to the four games mentioned, it would be Portugal who would directly access France 2023 and Santi Santos' team would go to the playoffs.

To obtain the ticket directly, the Spanish Federation needs World Rugby to validate the appeal filed in reference to the improper alignment of Gavin Van den Berg, which is taking its course elsewhere.

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