Five Spanish players have received bans ranging between 14 and 43 weeks for abusing the referee during their controversial 18-10 loss to Belgium in March.
After the Rugby Europe Championship match, which resulted in Romania qualifying for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan at Spain’s expense, outraged Spanish players surrounded Romanian match official Vlad Lordachescu, who had penalised them 18 times during the encounter.
The Spanish Rugby Federation have demanded a replay of the match, while World Rugby have ordered a commission of inquiry in to the events that day.
Meanwhile, a Rugby Europe Independent Judicial Committee met on Tuesday to consider the cases of the players with replacement Sebastien Rouet suspended for 43 weeks and his brother, Guillaume, who started the game, copping 36 for physically and verbally abusing the referee.
Flanks Pierre Barthere and Lucas Guillaume, and fly-half Mathieu Belie were found guilty of ‘threatening actions/words at a match official’ and each banned for 14 weeks.
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