TWO OF IRELAND'S PLAYERS has been used as a point of reference in Spain's dispute over a player eligibility issue that saw them kicked out of the upcoming World Cup in France.
Spain beat Portugal in the Rugby Europe Championship in March, but has their place taken away after it was discovered that South African-born Gavin van der Berg’s passport was interfered without his knowledge.
World Rugby decided that the Los Leones's player did not qualify to play for his country.
Spain had five points taken away for the games Van der Berg played in (2) and with that Spain missed out on place at the World Cup as a result.
The Telegraph report that Spain are looking to overturn the punishment and have used Ireland’s Bundee Aki and James Lowe as examples of foreign-born players inconsistencies in World Rugby’s rules.
Exclusive: James Lowe, Bundee Aki, Folau Fakatava and Pierre Schoeman have all been named by Spain as evidence of eligibility inconsistencies in their appeal against their Rugby World Cup disqualification
Story here ⬇https://t.co/DDeoU74qHr— Charles Richardson (@CERichardson_) May 30, 2022
According to World Rugby rules foreign-born players who started living and playing in a country before 2021 must have done so for three years before being eligible to represent their adopted country (those who moved to a country since 2021 must do so for five years).
James Lowe and Bundee Aki both born in New Zealand moved to Ireland to further their rugby careers and have since gone on to play for Ireland.
Connacht center Aki won his first cap in 2017, while Leinster winger Lowe first played for Ireland in 2020.
A couple of other players who have also availed of this rule are South Africa's CJ Stander and New Zealand born and Leinster scrum half James Lowe.
According to reports Van der Berg had been living in Spain for three years, but spent time outside the country in his first year and admitted that Spain was only really his home for the last two of those three years.
As such, the judiciary committee noted that it was not until the start of 2020 that he regarded Spain as his permanent home. An Instagram post in which he referred to himself as a 'Saffa' was also deemed "not insignificant".
See More: Bundee Aki, Ireland, James Lowe, Rugby
