Digby wrote:
Possibly. But it's 21 pages worth of updates received that I've not read yet, and in advance don't know on which page(s) the interesting bit might be or whether there even is an interesting bit
Right, it seems I probably should have started reading earlier. The detail sets out which of the players by nation WR think needs to proceed to a discussion of sanction and who's already in the clear.
Russia are in the clear as their dual registered lock has made enough 7s appearances to qualify via the Olympic route (that said I've no idea if he's actually a viable 7s player of whether the 7s was just a model of convenience used which they're not supposed to, or so I thought)
Some of Spain's players are in the poop, some aren't, and one is but is being dealt with separate to this as he didn't play for Spain in any of the qualifying matches this panel was convened to consider. So, sanction tba
Romania are in the poop, sanction tba
(I say sanction tba it might even be further down in the submission of the panel)
Belgium are in the poop, sanction tba
Germany look to be in the clear
World Rugby submits that explanations from the various unions as to why they made mistakes are a waste of time, as the point is the unions are liable and not that they try to explain away their failures (tbh I don't know why some unions tried to ignore the law other than they were left without the facts or the law on their side and thus simply argued), however there may be some mitigation when it comes to the sanctions applied.
Spain didn't even seemingly understand regulation 8, or as the WR panel says 'A failure to understand the Regulations is not a defence. '
Romania were told that no matter the Tongan union told them the player they used hadn't been captured that they hadn't followed up to check on 7s when it was easy to know Tonga plated 7s shows a failure on their part
Aha, and here are the sanctions
Spain
As a non council member fined £25k per breach, so a £50k fine
Belgium
As a non council member fined £25k per breach, so a £125k fine
Romania
As a council member fined £100k per breach, so a £100k fine
20% of the sanction will be payable, the remainder suspended
Additionally '. World Rugby submits that in the current circumstances, additional sanctions are warranted
bearing in mind all of the circumstances of the breaches. World Rugby reserves the right to
make further submissions in relation to the additional sanctions following receipt of submissions
on behalf of each of the other parties.'
I suspect that's added to stop anyone complaining
And finally there is to be a rematch between Beligum and Spain based not on the referee's performance but on the perception of possible bias.
That seems very severe, wouldn't you say? I mean, I'm all for this, but the first two are out for a year, basically, and unlikely to play in Japan even if Spain does get there. & I personally didn't see any actual physical contact on the video.
