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Rugby Europe has admitted "regret" over their decision and the subsequent controversy which followed their appointment of Romanian referee Vlad Iordachescu and two Romanian assistant referees for Spain's World Cup qualifying defeat to Belgium last weekend. Spain needed victory in their last game to qualify for next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan, but slumped to defeat with controversy surrounding a very one-sided penalty count in favour of Belgium. A release from Rugby Europe stated that the referees' selection committee met in Poznan to analyse the performance of the referees in the game following on from World Rugby's statement seeking "to understand the context of events relating to the Belgium v Spain match". "The current situation is a matter of regret for Rugby Europe, who would like to express its willingness to communicate in a transparent way, to avoid damaging allegations for the image and values of our sport, the teams and the refereeing," the statement read. Committee members reviewed the game and compared their analysis with those of Rugby Europe and World Rugby supervisors with the assessment given to Rugby Europe Board members and to World Rugby. A conference call is set for Monday evening after which an update will be given.
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