Spain's players remonstrate with a Romanian referee after their crucial defeat in Brussels ©Twitter

World Rugby said it would investigate after Romania controversially qualified for the 2019 World Cup at the expense of Spain.

Spanish players remonstrated angrily with a Romanian referee following defeat in the final round of the 2018 Rugby Europe Championship, a result which meant that Romania and not Spain have qualified for Japan 2019.

Spain, who had beaten Romania 22-10 in Madrid in February, were expected to defeat Belgium in Brussels to secure second place behind Georgia, who had already earned a place at the World Cup before the Europe Championship took place.

But despite a second-half comeback after the home team had taken a 12-0 half-time lead, Spain lost 18-10, meaning they finished third and will now have to meet Portugal for the right to play-off for a World Cup place with Samoa.

Romania came second and booked their place in Japan, with Samoa highly fancied to win the play-off.

The Spanish players appeared to take issue throughout the game with decisions taken by the Romanian referee, Vlad Iordăchescu.

Spain's unexpected defeat by Belgium in the final round of the 2018 Rugby Europe Championship - officiated by a Romanian referee - meant Romania, pictured after defeat by Georgia in Tbilisi, earned automatic qualification for next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan ©World Rugby
Spain's unexpected defeat by Belgium in the final round of the 2018 Rugby Europe Championship - officiated by a Romanian referee - meant Romania, pictured after defeat by Georgia in Tbilisi, earned automatic qualification for next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan ©World Rugby

World Rugby will now look at the "context of events", according to BBC Sport.

Romania are currently 17th in the World Rugby rankings, with Spain two places below.

Belgium, beaten 62-12 by Romania on March 10, are ranked 25th.

Iordăchescu mainly referees club rugby in tournaments such as the Romanian SuperLiga, but he has also taken charge of international test matches since 2009 and officiated at three matches at the 2014 Junior World Championships.

Romania, who lost 25-16 to Georgia in Tbilisi in a match that did not count towards qualification, will join Six Nations champions Ireland, Scotland, hosts Japan and the play-off winner in Pool A.

Reward also comes in the form of playing the home side in the opening match in Tokyo on September 20, 2019.

The President of Rugby Europe is also a Romanian, Octavian Morariu.

"Rugby Europe Selection Committee is waiting for the assessment report of the supervisor for Belgium v Spain match officials," a Rugby Europe statement said.

"In addition, this Committee will meet in Poznan next Friday on the occasion of the Rugby Europe Under-18 Championships. 

"Its agenda will be modified and a large portion of the meeting will be devoted to the analysis of every stage of the Belgium v Spain game. 

"Following this meeting, a statement will be released to the Rugby Europe Board of Directors for dissemination."