“I am responsible for it, but we are not to blame for what has happened. I understand the disappointment of the players, staff and fans. But I have a hard time understanding World Rugby’s decision based on the exceptional circumstances. We will appeal, the sanction seems disproportionate to us, as we lose in the offices what we have gained on the pitch “, he explained. In his speech Feijoo explained the case of Gavin van den Berg, who was summoned thanks to an alleged forgery Three members of the Alcobendas, where Van den Berg plays, were also involved, and FER officials also said that the facts had been brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in the event that a crime, and that the disciplinary proceedings are still ongoing.
The highest international body in the sport, World Rugby, decided that Gavin van del Berg could not play for the Spanish national team, leaving five points in Spain for each of the matches in which the player was lined up. , which means the disqualification of the team for the 2023 World Cup in France. The case arises in a claim of the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR) on the eligibility of Gavin van den Berg. In addition to the other points, World Rugby also fined Spain £ 25,000.
Pending Spain’s right of appeal, the 10-point deduction applied to next year’s Rugby World Cup qualifying table means that Romania will qualify as Europe 2 in Group B instead of Spain, and Portugal will replace Romania in the final qualifying tournament (replay) in November this year. Spain qualified for the World Cup 24 years after the last time, in 1999, after beating Portugal by 13 to 28 on March 13.
Lexus Alcobendas player Gavin van den Berg was born in South Africa, but has been playing in Spain since 2018, although according to the Romanian Federation (FRR) he has presented fake papers to be able to access the national team. According to the French newspaper Le Figaro“the player would have been in his home country during the pandemic, which would have broken the thread of the three years of residence” needed to obtain the nationality.
