Controversy surrounds the selection of former Tailevu rugby skipper Eseria Vueti into the Romanian rugby squad.

According to Super Liga, Vueti was called up on Monday by Romanian head coach Lynn Howells to join their 33-member squad. As Vueti joined the squad in Bucharest, it then became clear that he cannot play for Romania in today’s clash against Spain. This is based on World Rugby’s eligibility clause.

Vueti’s profile as stated on his club’s website indicated that the Fijian had played for Fiji A. Also he had represented the Telecom Fijian Warriors in 2012 and 2013 during the Pacific Rugby Cup. Whilst playing against clubs from Australia and New Zealand, which is meaningless for the player’s eligibility, the problem arose from matches he had played against Samoa A and Tonga A.

As stipulated in World Rugby regulations 8.2 and 8.3: “A player who has previously played for a next senior national representative ream against the senior national representative team or next senior national representative team of another union cannot play for a different union.”

Vueti played for the Warriors against Samoa A and Tonga A in 2012 and this was indicated on the World Rugby’s website.

Recent years unions have on numerous occasions have changed their next senior national representative team. Romania themselves changed theirs in 2016 from the now-defunct Bucharest Wolves which played from 2013 to 2015. However in 2012, the next senior national representative teams of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga were the Fiji Warriors, Samoa A and Tonga A, respectively.

In conclusion, Vueti is not eligible to play for Romania’s fifteen-a-side team. He won’t be until he acquires Romanian citizenship and plays in an Olympic qualifying tournament.