Romania are at risk of being kicked out of the 2019 Rugby World Cup after the Russian Rugby Federation submitted a complaint regarding the eligibility of a player, according to a report on the Rugby Pass.
The RRF claim that Romania centre Sione Faka’osilea is ineligible to represent them because he has played for Tonga in Rugby Seven’s.
The player was born in Tonga and has played in 13 Tests for Romania, but the RRF is adamant that he is ineligible.
Only last week, Tahiti was kicked out of the qualifying period for the World Cup due to fielding two ineligible players and Romania fear that they will be given a similar punishment.
There is already an investigation underway regarding a Romanian referee who angered the Spanish players by giving several decisions against them in their loss to Belgium, which handed Romania automatic qualification for the tournament which is going to take place in Japan.
These fresh allegations will not help Romania and they could face a double punishment if they are found guilty of two offences.
A statement on the RRF website read:
The issue was considered today at the meeting of the Board. We consider it absolutely unacceptable to blame anyone prior to a thorough investigation by the competent authorities of Rugby Europe and World Rugby, so we will send relevant inquiries to these organizations in the near future.
