Spark Sport’s Rugby World Cup woes may only just be beginning, as its buffering and quality issues have now extended to the field itself, where teams and their coaches are beginning to express frustration at their players repeatedly buffering mid-game.

Until now, buffering issues were isolated to customers’ home viewing experiences, but made their way onto the field of play Wednesday during Fiji’s clash with minnow Uruguay, a game that resulted in a stunning upset.

But Fiji isn’t content that the outcome was a fair one, saying buffering played a significant role.

At 27 minutes in, the ball was passed inside to Uruguay’s Juan Manuel Cat, who comfortably made his way towards the try line. But as he received the ball, several Fijian defenders began stuttering, before a red and white ring started rotating in front of them.

Cat himself appeared to briefly glitch sideways and then instantly appear over the line with the ball on the ground.

Appeals were made to the referee, who showed an error message.

Fans at the stadium were furious at the quality of the match, expressing their displeasure in the form of distorted booing in the left channel only.

Spark said the issue affected “only a small number of players”, and asked coaches to try taking them on and off the field to see if it would help.

Despite yesterday’s issues, tonight’s game between Italy and Canada has so far unfolded without buffering, though significant dips in quality are being experienced at the ground, particularly on the Canadian side.