World Rugby to look into Spain’s World Cup defeat to Belgium

World Rugby has confirmed it will look into the controversy surrounding Spain’s defeat to Belgium in a World Cup qualifying tie.

Spain’s defeat on Sunday means the team will not automatically qualify and must now face Portugal in a bid to reach the 2019 tournament in Japan.

The result meant that Romania took the automatic European qualifying spot.

Spain were clearly unhappy with Romanian referee Vlad Iordachescu and confronted him at full-time.

Spain coach Santiago Santos said: "We weren't allowed to play. The referee kept stopping the game at every moment. Our game was stopped continuously, the Belgians benefited from many more decisions.

"The difference between penalties against us and for us was huge. When we were trying to come back in the game the play kept on being interrupted."

World Rugby said that while it "does not appoint match officials for the Rugby Europe Championship" it is in contact with them "to understand the context of events relating to the Belgium v Spain match".