The difference in points has separated this Friday the Spanish rugby 7s team of the quarterfinals of the tournament in Dubai (United Arab Emirates)at the end of a day in which they drew against Ireland (21-21), lost to France (10-24) and beat Uganda (26-5).
The debut game against Ireland in this second stage of the World Series seemed decisive for the luck of the group and that is why Spain faced it with all the rigor from the center kick, which he captured to end up opening the scoring through Edu López at the end of a long offensive play.
An Irish error in the handling of the oval allowed the ‘Lions’ to immediately have another possession, exploited with a second test, posed by Alejandro Laforgaand the iron Spanish defense managed to reach the break with a very hopeful 14-0 against the third parties of the recent World Cup in Cape Town.
However, the islanders remained calm to turn the score around in an impeccable start to the second half, in which trials by Jack Kelly, Andrew Smith and Jordan Conroy followed one another that they forced Spain to seek the equalizer in a last attack, which Aratz Goicoechea achieved almost two minutes after the horn sounded (21-21).
Against France, Spain competed until the final three minutes thanks to the good administration of the few possessions allowed by the rival, which led to two brands by Manu Moreno and Edu López replicating the first two French essays, posed by Varian Pasquet and Stephen Parez.
The last quarter of the game, however, reflected the physical difference between the two teams, as two attacks from distance culminated by Joseph Lee and Nisié Huyard, whoComing off the bench fresh, they took the score to an uncontested 10-24.
In the match with which they closed the group stage, Spain was unaware of the difference in points they had to achieve to enter the quarterfinalssince the Irish played later, but they were aware of the need to achieve a resounding victory over Uganda, the invited team.
Thus, Spain came out in a rush to score two tries in the first three minutes thanks to Josep Serres and Alejandro Laforga, although the reply from the Ugandans on the brink of half-time, when Denis Etwau scored after taking advantage of a kick to follow from Aaron Ofoyrwoth, he cooled things down a bit (14-5).
The expulsion of the Ugandan captain, Michael Okorach, allowed the ‘Lions’ to play more than five minutes in numerical superioritya circumstance that they only took advantage of to pose another two essays, by Edu López and again by Laforga, to win by a 26-5 that was ultimately insufficient.
In the last game of the day, it was enough for Ireland to lose by less than eleven points against the already classified France and the Spanish elimination was substantiated with a tight French victory by 14-7.