Spain loses appeal, remains out of 2023 Rugby World Cup

DUBLIN (AP) — Spain will remain out of the Rugby World Cup next year after its appeal to overturn a penalty for using an ineligible player was dismissed Monday.

World Rugby said an independent appeal committee denied Spain’s attempt to throw out a 10-point deduction that left it out of next year’s tournament.

The committee upheld the original decision that Spain used an ineligible player during qualifying matches. The points deduction came after World Rugby said copies of South Africa-born front-rower Gavin van den Berg’s passport were altered to make him eligible.

Spain, which can't appeal Monday's decision, was trying to make its second World Cup appearance and first since 1999.

Spanish rugby officials tried to present new evidence but the committee denied it, saying they “had not adequately explained why this evidence was unavailable on reasonable enquiry ahead of the original hearing."

The appeal committee added that "it would not be in the interests of justice to do so after having regard for all of the circumstances, including consideration that part of the new evidence presented was not only incomplete, but contained allegations against the player and others relating to the alteration of a photocopy of a national identity document that was subject to ongoing investigations by the appropriate competent bodies in the Spanish jurisdiction.”

Spanish rugby federation president Alfonso Feijoo had said he would resign when the appeal process was over. Feijoo said the federation was “deceived” by being given the forged copies of Van den Berg’s passport, and that World Rugby and the European rugby federation also didn’t see the irregularity.

Van den Berg arrived in Spain in 2018 and had to live in the country for three years to qualify on residency before making his debut. But he reportedly returned to South Africa for four months in 2019 and went back there again during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

It was the second straight Rugby World Cup qualifying that Spain has become embroiled in controversy. In 2018, Spain, Romania and Belgium were sanctioned for fielding ineligible players and Russia advanced to the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

World Rugby confirmed that Romania will take Spain's place in the 2023 World Cup in France, while Portugal will advance to the final qualification tournament in November.

The investigation was opened after a complaint by the Romanian rugby federation about Spain illegally fielding Van den Berg.

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