Spain versus Belgium isn’t the kind of fixture you would expect to set the rugby world alight, but that’s exactly what has happened over the past 48 hours or so.

Sunday in Brussels saw the two sides do battle in a crucial 2019 World Cup qualifier, with the home team winning 18-10 in a shock victory.

The defeat cost Spain an automatic place in next year’s showpiece, and also meant that Romania booked their tickets to New Zealand.

Here’s the catch – all three match officials were Romanian, and all of Belgium’s points came from penalty kicks.

The plot thickens further, with this from TVNZ:

The Spanish Rugby Federation has said it will file a complaint to tournament organizer [sic] Rugby Europe about the refereeing, and request video of the match be analyzed to check if decisions were “deliberately partial to favor the interests of Romania.”

The Spanish federation had asked Rugby Europe to change the officials for the Belgium match because all three were Romanian. The federation said Patrick Roben, president of Rugby Europe’s referees’ commission, denied the request because the match appointments were done weeks in advance.

The head of Rugby Europe is a Romanian, Octavian Morariu.

Hmm, I’m beginning to smell a rat.

Let’s see how the end of the match played out. It’s Spain in yellow, and you’ll see their furious reaction to the final whistle at the 30-second mark below:

The whole saga isn’t a very good look for the sport, is it? That ref should just be grateful that Bakkies didn’t grow up in Madrid.

The president of the Spanish Rugby Federation, Alfonso Feijoo, was beside himself:

“Everyone who has seen the game will judge the referee,” he told Spanish radio station Cadena SER. “He gave 10 penalties against us, the result comes from that.”

Rugby Europe is scheduled to meet in Poland next Friday, and the Selection Committee has promised to dedicate a significant portion of that meeting “to the analysis of every stage of the Belgium v Spain game”.

Spanish captain Jaime Nava has apologised for his team’s behaviour, and he will be hoping for good news from that analysis.

If the result stands, Spain will have to beat Portugal, and then win a two-legged playoff against Samoa, in order to qualify for the World Cup.

[sources:tvnz&sport24]