victory for South Africa in the confrontation against Spain by 20-35 in an intense and very even clash in the Central Field of Ciudad Universitaria. The physical duel that was expected before the start was a reality and in this field the visitors took the cat to the water despite the great work of Las Leonas directed by Juan González. The youth of Spain, with an average age of around 22 years, and the competitiveness shown against more experienced teams such as the USA and South Africa suggest a hopeful future.
The clash began dizzyingly and with the South Africans displaying an intensity that resulted in the first test of the match after 3 minutes, with her subsequent kick transformed by Libbie Janse van Rensburg. Spain did not shrink and stood up to turn the game around with a test by Cristina Blanco, transformation by Claudia Peña and a subsequent kick also by Peña to make it 10-7 in the 15th minute.
The strength of South Africa began to double the speed of Spain and their rhythm was the one that prevailed the rest of the first half, putting themselves ahead again on the scoreboard and going to the locker room with a 10-22 that demonstrated the visiting effectiveness. Two quality plays by each team kicked off the second half. First it was an extraordinary run by Claudia Peña who dodged opponents for 40 meters to land the ball in the South African zone. The visitors’ response came from Van Rensburg with a similar run.
Las Leonas did not give up and another great individual play, in this case by Carmen Castelucci, who stole and tried, got Spain back into the game. There were still 30 minutes left to finish the game and the score was 20-27. Subsequently, the dominance and pressure came from South Africa who, despite their physical superiority, did not manage to find an easy path with a great defense from Las Leonas until the 66th minute, when a maul led to 20-32 with no score left. 13 minutes to go in the match. A kick from the South Africans at the end of the game left the final score at 20-35, which shows the great level of Las Leonas to compete face to face with one of the best teams in the world.
This has been the fifth and last game for some Leonas in a regeneration process that has been able to compete against teams like Italy, the USA or South Africa, demonstrating that with more training and games behind them they will be able to defeat those who today beat them by details. The average age of around 22 years in Spain and the great taste in the mouth -regardless of the score- that they have left in this window of matches is enough to think about the promising future that lies ahead.
