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 only felt at home in the country for two.
As such, the 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".
While falsifying a copy of an ineligible player's passport is the obvious major wrong committed, with Van den Berg supposedly spending more than two months out of Spain in 2019 when he needed to spend 36 months residing in Spain to become eligible, the subjective nature of players considering a country their "permanent home" is clearly a point of contention for Spain. Although it should be noted that alone is unlikely to overturn the outcome.
However, that subjective nature is where the citing of other players, such as Lowe, Aki and Schoeman, comes in. All have them have previously expressed opinions on their nationalities or the residency rules.
Nine-cap prop Schoeman admitted that it felt “tough being away from home” during his “first year” in Scotland to the Scotsman earlier this month. Aki, who has won 37 caps for Ireland and toured South Africa with the Lions last year, has previously said "it is wrong for me to say I am Irish".
“I actually do not know [who I’ll play for]," Aki told the Times in 2016.
“I don’t think about it in terms of countries...Yes, my ambition is still to play international rugby. When the time comes, when the time is right for me, the coaches and the international team will come I hope."
Lowe, who has won 12 caps for Ireland, told The42 in 2019 he thought it "weird that [he] could be Irish, isn’t it?", calling World Rugby’s eligibility laws “stupid” and “weird”.
Tonga-born Fakatava, who has been cleared to play for New Zealand after an anomaly in the regulations, told Stuff earlier this year: "It would be good to have a crack at [playing for New Zealand].
"I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing, and learn from the best [Aaron Smith], and if the opportunities come I’ll take it. If not, then I’ll have to play for Tonga."
The Telegraph report that all these quotes have been included in Spain's appeal as testimonies.
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