Hypothetical question

First of all, please don’t respond to England wont loose... Wales haven’t a chance… Australia are the best… etc. If you read the post properly, you’ll see I’m posting an hypothetical question (or maybe its not) around injuries and what is in the RWC ruling to cover them.

Ok, here goes…

We all know the Welsh injury list is growing and let’s be honest, we always question strength in depth, but even if we couldn’t get world class players to fill a gap, we could find a Welsh qualified player to pull the jersey on, even if they couldn’t fill the boots of the player exiting, and although we would have to get a player to cross a stretch of water (River Severn) it’s not like they won’t be acclimatised or risk major jet lag.

BUT, what if the Uruguayans. What would happen, if they sustained some real serious injuries BEFORE the face England. So much, that they would not be able to field a full strength side (including subs). Let’s imagine, that the big 3 do come down to points difference, yet Uruguay cant field a side. It may not be feasible to fly another Uruguay qualified player in from South America, they may not have a player or the jet lag would make it dangerous for a player to get off such a long flight and be expected to take the field. If that happened, is the game abandoned and a panel sit and suggest a likely score. If that would be the case, would that be fair, as points diff would make the difference on progression and exit at the pool stage. Maybe, they are allowed to request help from another team, who would not progress out of their pool and hence using a “loan” player wouldn’t impact other results. I believe this “loan” player used to be allowed in the 7s game, don’t know if it still is in the days of professionalism. That surely would be the fairest way to decide the outcome..

I don’t know if this eventuality has been factored into the RWC rulings, maybe it has and someone knows exactly what would happen.
Either way, be interested in your thoughts…

They have 31 players, you're suggesting that 17 get injured and the gap between the first and last injury is less than the time it takes to fly someone over?

Did say it was hypothetical..

Look at the Welsh injuries.. How many front row players do they have. Loose them and they cant compete..

It could happen.. Very unlikely I know, but I wondered if the unlikely happened, is there a ruling to cover it..

Uruguay are not going to progress, I think we all agree with that, but how they play in their last game could be a factor in deciding who progresses. So surely, there should be some ruling in place to cover the highly unlikely event that they cant field a team through injuries.

You can have a game with fewer than 15 players, as long as there are 5 in the scrum. Although you need 3 subs who can play in the front row. Not sure about a forfeit scoreline.

Uruguay allowed to bow out rather than having them looking around for "loan" players?

Not sure 'loan' players would work legally at the WC or indeed logistically over the short term between games - a lot of legal mumbo jumbo there not simply a few  requested players saying "yeah" and pulling on the jersey.  

Uruguayans allowed to go home - other teams in the pool forfeit any results of games that were played against them.  So a wipe-out of results from Uruguayan matches and try to create a 1, 2, 3 using other games and other parametres (points scored, tries etc)............?

Other teams from other Pools would be then annoyed and probably register complaints and.................... well, let's hope that complex issue doesn't arise because it might bring the WC itself to a legal halt.

As far as I know there is no specific ruling around being unable to field a full side. Mainly beacause it is extremely unlikely.

There is a ruling around being unable to field two full front rows in the matchday 23. The game is played, reduced to uncontested scrums where necessary, and the "offending" team docked any points earned and fined - unless it is deemed that the circumstances were beyond their control.

An example where the circumstances are beyond control:

1) Late injuries to more than one player in any front row position and insufficient time to call up replacements.

An example that would not be deemed exceptional:

2) A week out it is well known that 3 props are injured. No call ups made just in case these players recover, as once replaced you cannot return to the squad.

"No Match points will be awarded to a Team which has been expelled from the Tournament, refuses to play a Match or abandons a Match in progress, without direction from Match Officials or the Match Commissioner, subject always to the provisions of the Terms of Participation. Should this occur, the opponent in that Match shall be awarded a win and therefore four Match points. For the avoidance of doubt, bonus points will not be awarded.

Where a Team is expelled from the Tournament, it shall forfeit all Match points previously awarded and its opponents in each Match previously played shall be awarded four Match points (which shall replace any Match points previously awarded from the particular Match). All points scored for and against in these Matches shall be discounted in the official pool rankings and Team records used for Tournament purposes."

As you got quotes around this Scott, I guess you've got this from the RWC rules..

Is so, that answers my question.. So in the very unlikely event it did happen, Wales would lose a point (ie their BP) as would any other side who got a BP from their game with them, and all opponents would get 4 points, hence nullifying that side.

Guess that could be a good outcome, as there'd be no points diff for that game coming into play, as I can see both Aus and Eng putting 100 on them, which is going to push us (Wales) out, as we aren't going to put 100 on Fiji

Thanks all.. So short answer is that it is covered in the RWC rulings (in a way... ).

Yeah meant to put the source below. It's from the rules on the official site.

I don't think it's so desperate yet that you need to pray for a team to drop out!!

More realistic question would be say Uruguay gets prop injuries all of a sudden and cannot field a competitive scrum. Do we see uncontested scrums from the off?

As above yes, and a fine though I would assume they'd give a team like Uruguay an easier slap on the wrist. Injured during the game if able to name all the props etc then reduced to 14 men, or fewer, and uncontested.

Surely there are a few Uruguayans playing in Europe who could be called up in that sort of an emergency?