The Rugby Europe Board of Directors have gathered remotely today to make a decision on the remaining games of the Rugby Europe Championship 2020 including the Romania / Belgium, initially scheduled on February 7th.
As a reminder, the Belgium National Authorities have not permitted the Belgium Men’s XV National team to travel to Romania for that game.
After discussing the possible options, the following decisions have been made :
- Belgium forfeit the game. Belgium will receive zero points, with Romania awarded 5 points with a score of 28-0.
- The play-off match between the lowest ranked team in the REC2020, which has now been confirmed as Belgium, and the Netherlands must be played before June 13th 2021.
- If, for any reason, a team is unable to play, travel or host any of the remaining fixtures of REC 2020 or the Play-off game, it will be forfeited.
- The core principles of the REC 2021 calendar, voted by the Board of Directors in December does not change. The first round of 2021 matches will be played on the weekend of March 6th /7th and the REC 2021 will continue through March and July international windows.
- The winner of the Play-off will play all their REC 2021 matches during the 2021 July and November international windows, which will mark the conclusion of REC2021.
- The full schedule of the REC 2021 will be announced at the conclusion of the 2020 Rugby Europe Championship.
