Very positive debut for the Spanish 7s rugby team at the start of the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series in the women’s category of the season. The players under the baton of Pedro de Matías left behind the sensations of last year, in which they had to fight until the last minute to achieve permanence, and were classified on their own merits within the group of the 8 best teams in the world, beating Fiji (14-21) and Japan (33-7) in the group stage, and losing only to Ireland (21-7). Later in the crosses they lost to France (14-5) and Fiji (26-5), but they recovered against Great Britain (10-14) achieving a deserved 7th place.
In the match corresponding to the gold quarterfinals, the Spanish faced France, Olympic silver medalist in Tokyo 2020, and kept up the pulse of the rooster until the final whistle sounded. A great image for those led by Amaia Erbina, who were only two points behind for most of the match and only ended up conceding a second try at the end of the match (14-5).
Fiji was again the rival for the Spanish in the semifinals for fifth place. The women who won Olympic bronze in 2022 learned from their mistakes in the group stage and they were able to convert the misunderstandings of Las Leonas7s in attack into points, to finish with a clear result 5-26 in their favor, in a match in which only Amaia Erbina was able to find the line of oceanic lime.
In the last match of the day, Pedro de Matías’ men faced Great Britain in the fight for seventh place. The Spanish managed to score as soon as they started, from the hands of Ingrid Algar and Eva Aguirre did the same before the break. With the acquired advantage, a test by the Welshman and star of the circuit James Joyce was not enough to turn the score around, and the Spanish tied the victory (10-14) and seventh place in the first round of the world circuit in Dubai.
13th place for the Lions
After staying at the gates of a pass to the gold quarterfinals in the group stage dispute at the HSBC World Rugby 7s Series in Dubai, with a draw against Ireland (21-21), a loss against France (24 -10) and a victory against Uganda (26-5), the Spanish men’s 7s rugby team faced day 2 of the competition aware that every point counts in the fight for permanence.
Uruguay beat the Spaniards in the first match (12-24), but Los Leones were able to come back to beat Japan (28-0) and Canada (7-38) and finish in 13th position. In a season in which the teams in the men’s draw will be reduced from 16 to 12, Pablo Feijoo’s men have a great challenge ahead of them in the 11 appointments that make up the total of the competition.
The effort made on the first day of the tournament held in the United Arab Emirates took its toll on Los Leones7s in the quarterfinals for 9th place, in which they were beaten by the recently promoted team, Uruguay (12-24). The wombs They played their cards intelligently and after dominating the scoreboard for a good part of the match, they closed the game with a kick that left the Spaniards without options.
The Spaniards managed to rebuild themselves in the next match against Japan, in which the youngest shone with two essays by Jaime Manteca and one by debutant Asier Pérez. The 28-0 victory gave Los Leones7s the pass to the final for 13th place, which turned out to be an offensive recital against Canada with six trials put up to finish with a resounding 7-38 victory and add three points in the general that can be important at the end of the season.
