So Romania and Spain appealed and failed. Russia will be in Ireland's group with Germany playing Portugal next Saturday to decide who faces Samoa over 2 legs (June 30/July 14) for the final spot in Ireland's group.

The loser of that playoff will go into the repechage with the likes of Canada to decide the final spot in next year's RWC. The winner of the repechage will go into the group with New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and "Africa 1" - probably Namibia.

Repechage sides: Canada, winners of Hong Kong/Cook Islands playoff, loser of Samoa/European side playoff and Africa 2 (Kenya, Morocco, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tunisia are the other 5 sides competing in that section). Zimbabwe edged out Kenya in 2015.

Well no announcement, but Romania were due to play in the Pacific Nations Cup next month (with Georgia, Fiji and Tonga) but they are now dropped in favour of Samoa, who would have been suddenly without a fixture due to the play-off not taking place. So either Romania are being punished for the disqualification thing, or they are being freed up to play in a new hastily arranged qualification tournament.

Fair dues to your linguistic capability!

There may be some legs here, Googled it and the Samoans are concerned that this delays their play-off match (potentially in August) when foreign payers are back in Europe with their clubs.
Both Romania and Belgium are being accused of fielding ineligible players. I guess World Rugby needs an excuse to eliminate Romania as Rugby Europe, presided by a Romanian, managed the refereeing debacle with Spain and are not budging. 5-6 Spanish players have been suspended for up to 9 months but not sure if they are being kicked out.

There's talk that Romania, Spain and Belgium are all due to be kicked out today, but no idea how reliable RugbyXV.ge is:
rugbyxv.ge/%E1%83%A0%E1%83%A3%E1%83%A1%E...0%E1%83%A3%E1%83%9B/
Russia would be in Ireland's pool and Germany (who didn't even manage a LBP this season) play Portugal/Samoa in the playoffs.

I'd still say Clancy is a worse ref then him

Your man is hilarious. I love the way he volunteers to ref the replay at the end. How not to get a job.
Spanish behaviour at the end was awful but you'd think the Romanian Federation would have the sense not to get involved: www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/43495000
If Belgium were smart they'd join the calls for a replay. Nothing to lose for them and they'd get ten times the gate and a nice TV deal

An interesting analysis of the Ref's performance in that infamous Spain v Belgium game.

pinky wrote: Looks like Romania are getting out of jail here. Spain 15 down in Brussels with 17 mins left ...
Edit: Lost 18-10. You'd have to say Spain really blew that opportunity. So Romania join us in the RWC. Spain have to face a two-legged play-off with Samoa assuming they beat Portugal. And if they lose that then Canada await in the Repêchage.
Looked like a great crowd in Tbilisi for the Other Grand Slam.

Can see Spain beiing kicked out of the tournament after the behaviour of their players at the weekend, can't see any other outcome. At best they'll lose a whole bunch of players for a lengthy time..
World Rugby are a shambles for not having officials from a team that might benefit form the result. Romanian officials for a match that could benefit Romanian qualification for RWC...??
Not saying the officials actually did anything wrong (Sapin were woeful from what I saw, absolutely choked)) but there should be no conflict of interest if it can be avoided, which is could have been...

Looks like Romania are getting out of jail here. Spain 15 down in Brussels with 17 mins left ...
Edit: Lost 18-10. You'd have to say Spain really blew that opportunity. So Romania join us in the RWC. Spain have to face a two-legged play-off with Samoa assuming they beat Portugal. And if they lose that then Canada await in the Repêchage.
Looked like a great crowd in Tbilisi for the Other Grand Slam.

So Romania beat Russia 25-15 at home. It was 3-2 on tries and then they went for it with a last minute penalty and got the fourth try. Cue big celebration. I don't know the Romanian for bonus point but the Romanian commentator definitely said it a few times. Rugby Europe site doesn't update very quickly but someone was straight on to Wikipedia to record Romania's TBP win. Four points clear of Spain so. Except oops, they use the French BP system where you need 3 tries more than your opponent, so bye bye bonus point. Only 3 clear of Spain and they have a game in hand and better head to head.
So from what I can see, Spain just need to beat Germany at home and Belgium away and they're through, regardless of what Romania do to Belgium at home. That is assuming it goes to head to head, I'm pretty sure it does. Anyway I would expect Spain to get a TBP against Germany.
Spain lost to Georgia but that does not count towards RWC qualification. Looks like the Rugby Europe Championship itself will go down to the last day in Tbilisi against Romania but you'd have to fancy Georgia for the slam.

If Spain hold on, one of Canada, Romania or Samoa has to miss out. Romania would likely play Samoa over two legs in June. You'd fancy Samoa but Romania beat them in November.
The loser of that goes into the repechage along with Canada (and someone like Tahiti and Kenya) with only one qualifying.

wow that to me is a bit of a surprise, and with Uruguay knocking Canada out (albeit they have one more chance) we are seeing a minor changing of the guard among the tier 3 teams in world rugby.

Nice win for Spain 22-10. Could nearly have had a TBP but the last minute try went the wrong way. Looked like the best atmosphere I've seen at an international in a while.
Spain are 1 point ahead now and have a better head to head than Romania so as long as they can beat Germany at home and Belgium away, they should stay ahead and play Japan in the opening game of the RWC (and meet Ireland on a Thursday morning later on). I think they need one TBP to be sure of it, but Romania would do well to get a TBP at home to Russia so they're looking good.

Here you go if you're bored. Sure I'll give Spain a bit of a shout. Would be nice to play someone new at the RWC ...

www.dailymotion.com/video/x6egl94

Fond memories of that stadium from 2010. Remember when we used to hammer teams 66-0?

Not sure if this is the right topic for this post, but in the light of the Promotion/relegation discussion on 6 Nations in this thread, the attached is an interview with Phillip Browne of IRFU, who gives interesting insight into the complexity and financial issues as a consequence of that.

PB comes in at 13.00.

There's a bit more on the line in this tournament this season as some of the games double as qualification for the World Cup. The top side over last season and this season in the games not involving Georgia (already qualified) will be in Ireland's pool. The second best will play (and probably beat) Portugal go into a playoff against Samoa, the winner of which will also be in Ireland's pool, and the loser of which will probably also qualify via the repêchage but will end up with NZ and SA.

Spain had a good win away to Russia in Krasnodar overseen by our old friend Frank, which leaves them just 3 points behind Romania, whom they host next Saturday. Both teams would be expected to win their remaining two games so that one is kinda the decider. If Romania win, they're pretty much sorted. If Spain win they're very much in poll position but if Romania get a LBP they'll be ahead on head to head so could go to the wire.
Game should be live on the Rugby Europe site at 11.45 on Saturday if you're suffering International Rugby Withdrawal Symptoms during the 6N rest week.
www.rugbyeurope.eu/welcome-rugby-europe-tv

(No joy for Hans Peter Wild's quest to get Germany in, they got stuffed 85-6 by Romania, whom they beat last season).