Russia will appear at the World Cup next year after Romania, Spain and Belgium were all sanctioned for fielding ineligible players in the Rugby Europe Championship, which acts as the qualification tournament.

Romania have said they will appeal against the decision, which comes following a remarkable sequence of events in which the father of the England internationals Billy and Mako Vunipola has been embroiled and kills off Spain’s hopes of a reprieve after their controversial defeat by Belgium in March – an independent committee review ruled the result will stand.

World Rugby announced last month that it felt the match between Spain and Belgium, refereed by a Romanian official and which Belgium surprisingly won to allow Romania to qualify for the World Cup, should be replayed. But in light of a number of complaints about ineligible players, World Rugby called for an emergency inquiry, which found that the result could not be overturned or annulled, because doing so “would undermine the respect to which decisions of referees are entitled, absent corruption or bad faith”.

Russia had initially finished in third place in the qualification table, behind Romania and Spain, but advance in top spot while Germany, who were sitting in fifth and final place, move up to second and will face a playoff against Portugal – the winner of which will play Samoa. Russia last competed at the World Cup in 2011 but will now contest the opening match of the 2019 tournament against the hosts Japan.

Georgia topped the Rugby Europe Championship but they had already qualified for the World Cup next year by finishing third in their pool in 2015. As a result, matches against them in the Rugby Europe Championship did not count towards qualification and while some of the games in which ineligible players were fielded were against Georgia, the review committee found enough examples of foul play elsewhere to dock sufficient points for Russia and Germany to advance.

In Romania’s case, the review found that Sione Faka’osilea played in eight matches – including six that counted towards qualification for the World Cup – despite having represented Tonga. Romania’s defence included an email from Fe’ao Vunipola, the acting chairman of the Tonga federation, which stated the player in question was eligible to play for Romania. The committee accepted that both parties had acted in good faith but chose to dock Romania 30 points – five for each match played in qualifying.

For Spain, the committee found that two players were ineligible having appeared for the France Under-20 side. In total the two players played in nine matches – eight in qualifying – meaning Spain were docked 40 points.

The case of Belgium meanwhile, who initially finished fourth in qualifying, was more straightforward. The committee found that five players, who between them had played in six matches that counted towards qualification, were ineligible because neither they, nor their parents or grandparents had been born in Belgium.

“While the independent disputes committee has determined that mistakes were not made in bad faith by Rugby Europe and some participating unions, World Rugby is extremely disappointed with the unfortunate and avoidable events,” a World Rugby statement said.

Complaints that Russia and Germany had fielded ineligible players were also brought before the committee review but proved to be unfounded. Spain and Belgium have 14 days to appeal.