Ireland, Scotland and Lions stars dragged into rugby's major World Cup row

A handful of Irish and Scottish internationals - including one British and Irish Lion - have reportedly been dragged into Spain's appeal against their exclusion from next year's World Cup.

Irish backs James Lowe and Bundee Aki, Scottish prop Pierre Schoeman and the Tongan-born scrum-half, Folau Fakatava have all been cited as examples of inconsistency in World Rugby's eligibility regulations.

Spain had qualified for a first World Cup since 1999 after finishing second in the Rugby Europe Championship. However, they were disqualified from next year's tournament in France for fielding South African-born Gavin van den Berg in two matches.

Van den Berg's passport was found to have been tampered without his knowledge by his club, Alcobendas, who were relegated out of the Spanish top division and fined €30,000. Spain were hit with a 10-point deduction and fined €25,000 after Van den Berg was found to have left the country for more than two months in 2019, meaning he did not complete the required 36-months permanent residency required to play for Spain.

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However, according to the Telegraph, the Spanish appeal will focus on Guideline 15 in the verdict of Van den Berg's initial hearing. There it was stated by the judicial committee that “must be able to demonstrate the country in which [a player] has been resident was, genuinely, the country that the player treated as his home and is clearly the country in which the player has his primary and permanent home”.

Van den Berg was asked during the hearing how long he had considered Spain as his “permanent primary home”. However, despite having played there for three years, he said that he had