Samoan centre takes aim at IRB over scheduling

Samoa centre Eliota Sapolu Fuimaono could be facing disciplinary action from the International Rugby Board (IRB) following a Twitter rant after his side's 17-10 World Cup loss to Wales.Angered by the IRB's scheduling which many feel favour the top teams, the Gloucester player accused the sport's ruling body of "unfair treatment" as Samoa played for the second time in four days while Wales had a week off. He called this exploitation and compared Samoa's treatment to slavery, the holocaust and apartheid."An IRB spokesman was reported by the BBC as saying: "It is very disappointing." Sapolu Fuimaono, who came on as a replacement after 70 minutes against Wales, could be disciplined if he is found to have broken the Rugby World Cup code of conduct, which contains social media guidelines.There is also an onus placed on each nation to enforce those guidelines under a participation agreement. Samoa coach Titimaea Tafua has said his side's four-day turnaround before the Wales game was "not an excuse" for the defeat in Hamilton but Sapolu Fuimaono was enraged. "IRB, Stop exploiting my people. Please, all we ask, is fairness. If they get a week, give us a week. Simple. #equ[al]ity #justice," he commented on his Twitter account. Later he added: "Ok, it's obvious the IRB are unjust. Wales get 7 days, we get 3. Unfair treatment, like slavery, like the holocaust, like apartheid. "Give Wales 3 days off and give Samoa a week! We would kill them! "You can't get punished for speaking out against injustice. That would be unjust. Anyone can tackle a man. Try tackling injustice."The Welsh win over Samoa means that they are now in pole position to take the second qualifying position from the tough Pool D behind defending champions South Africa, who are expected to top it. Several of the Tier Two nations, like Canada, Georgia and Namibia, have also complained about the scheduling and in particular the turnaround times between games, which they say discriminates against them.The top teams from the Six Nations and Tri Nations tournaments in general have been accorded more time to recover between matches. The World Cup involves 20 teams split into four groups of five with the top two teams after a round-robin qualifying for the quarter-finals.