The Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) will take their appeal against World Rugby over their ban from the World Cup to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Despite having qualified, Spain were banned from the World Cup for a second tournament in a row after fielding an ineligible player in the Rugby Europe International Championships.
They were deducted ten points from that competition – five for each game where they fielded the ineligible player – after playing Gavin Van den Berg for two games.
Spain were also fined £25,000 for the incident and a further £50,000 from a suspended fine, imposed on them when two of their players were deemed ineligible in the RWC 2019 process.
The FER, whose appeal to World Rugby’s initial decision was rejected last month, have repeatedly defended themselves on the grounds that they were lied to by Van der Berg (who possessed a fake passport), but they are set to take a different approach this time, focussing on what they believe was an overly severe punishment.
In a statement, the FER said: “After the meeting held this Monday, July 18, the Management Commission of the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER), has decided to present a Declaration of Appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the sanction imposed by the Wold Rugby Judicial Committee, which has left the Spanish Rugby team out of the World Championship, to be held in France during the months of September and October 2023.
“With the advice of our legal services and the unanimity of all its members, the Management Committee has decided to present this appeal in the face of what it considers to be an excessive sanction and the consequence of a deception suffered by the FER itself.
“The Management Committee considers that making this decision is an inalienable exercise of responsibility, since this Monday, July 18, the deadline for the presentation of the appeal ends, and considers its obligation to try a last resort to get the men’s side into the World Cup.”
Spain’s lost their place in the Rugby World Cup to Romania, who were promoted from the Final Qualification play-off to direct qualification for the tournament after they submitted a photo to World Rugby showing Van den Berg still living in South Africa before his three year residency in Spain was supposed to have begun.
Portugal were then promoted into the Final Qualification tournament, as Spain slipped behind their Iberian neighbours in the International Championship table as well as Romania (having already been behind Georgia who beat them in what had been a title decider in Tblisi).
If successful with their appeal, Spain would become the fourth Hispanic team to qualify for the World Cup, joining Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
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