Spain have been kicked out of the 2023 Rugby World Cup after it was discovered that they played an ineligible player on two separate occasions during their qualifying campaign.
They will now be replaced by Romania in the event.
There were some joyous scenes last month after the nation's place at the tournament was confirmed, defeating Portugal in a play-off as they were set to play at the event for the first time since 1999. They were placed in a pool alongside Ireland, South Africa, and Scotland.
However, an investigation was launched after it was suspected that the Spanish may have fielded an ineligible player in two of their games during the Rugby Europe Championship campaign.
Their punishment was confirmed today, with a statement from the Spanish authorities reading:
After the oral hearing held this Thursday, April 28, with the independent judicial committee appointed by World Rugby to study the claim of the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR) on the eligibility of Gavin van den Berg, the highest body in world rugby has decided to penalise Spain with a £25,000 fine and deduct five points for each of the two games in which this player lined out.
While waiting for World Rugby to make the ruling official, this decision means disqualification from the 2023 World Cup in France, a competition for which the XV del León had qualified directly by finishing second in the Rugby Europe Championship 2021-2022.
As this very harsh sanction occurs as a result of an alleged forgery of the aforementioned player’s passport, the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) continues with the extraordinary disciplinary procedure initiated at the time and will shortly call a press conference to offer all the explanations that are required.
#FERugby | Comunicado oficial: World Rugby decide que Van den Berg no era elegible para jugar con España. https://t.co/QzYQ3yfhc4
— España Rugby (@ferugby) April 28, 2022
South African prop born Gavin van den Berg featured in two fixtures against The Netherlands, both of which Spain won easily.
It soon emerged that the player may not have met the criteria to play for the country. Van der Berg played for Spain under the residency rule, which states that a player must live in a country for a consecutive period of three years in order to be eligible to play for them at international level.
While van der Berg had documentation to say this was the case, it appears as though he did fulfil all of the obligations required to become a Spain player.
Rules dictate that a player must remain in their country of residence for ten months out of 12 in three consecutive years in order to play for them internationally. It seems as though the prop returned to South Africa for longer than this during the required period and as a result should not have lined out for the nation.
He had been cleared to play by both the national federation (FER) and World Rugby, although this was done so after false information was submitted by his club Alcobendas.
Other federations apparently became aware of this potential rule breach by looking at the player's social media activity.
The FER have been fined £25,000, with Spain's ten point deduction meaning they no longer qualify for the tournament.
This is the second occasion they have been eliminated from World Cup contention for breaching the rules, having played another ineligible player during qualifying.
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