23-29. Spain beats Romania and finishes third in the European Championship
The Spanish team beat the Romanian team (23-29), who played most of the game with one less, this Sunday, in Leganés (Madrid), and took the third place in the European Rugby Championship, second continental category.
To the credit of the Argentine Pablo Bouza’s team, the fact of knowing how to recover from a bad first half and giving four tries to the visitors in the second. In the must, do it with one more man after the expulsion of Immelman in the 18th minute.
León’s However, the victory against Romania means that the Spanish finish the championship with a good taste in their mouths ahead of the summer tests and preparation for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
The national team did not find its rhythm or its game in the first half despite getting off to a good start at the beginning through Bay, who placed the oval on the visiting goal line. Trial that the Italian referee Russo annulled due to a previous forward ball.
It was a mirage. They soon found themselves outnumbered, even with one more for 22 minutes after the referee showed Immelman a red card for an action in the local 22.
Partly due to their own failures in their attack, partly due to the aggressive defense of the Romanians, Bouza’s team did not cross the opposing try line in the first 40 minutes.
Only Richardis, through a penalty hit, in the 38th minute, partially compensated for Bonaparte’s try and the points with the foot of Conache and Plai, the latter with a “drop”, to go to halftime 11-3.
Almost everything changed after the restart.
The defense of the XV del León began to recover balls and every time they stepped on the rival 22 they added. Thus came the attempts by Laforga, Saleta and Nieto, who made it 17-24 in the 65th minute. And the success of Richardis’s kick with sticks.
Romania was only able to look for focused punishment blows to close the gap through Conache, who was very accurate all afternoon.
The fourth Hispanic mark, created by Carmona in ’70, would have sealed the match. But Richardis’s only failure in the transformations left a score of 20-29 on Butarque’s scoreboard, which, through another punishing blow from the Romanian fly-half, placed his team within a try shot: 23-29.
The defense of the XV of León grew in the last minutes to disrupt a last and long rival attack and win the bronze medal of the European Championship.
– Technical sheet.
23. Romania: Savin, Buruiana, Gajion, Waidner, Mahu, Tweddle, Boboc, Immelman; Conache, Plai; Maftei, Tangimana, Schwartz, Bonaparte and Onutu. Iancu, Butnariu, Hartig, Williams, Tiqe, Vaovasa and Cretu also played.
29. Spain: Pirlet, Albó, Zabala, Foulds, Piñeiro, Saleta, Triki, Nieto; Bay, Richardis, Laforga, Gimeno, Mateu, Cian and Wessell Bell. Ovejero, Boronat, Aira, Tabarot, Merkler, Urraza, Carmona and Aurrekoetxea also played.
Referee: Filippo Russo, from Italy. He showed yellow to Álvaro García, in the 13th minute; Immelman was sent off with a red card in the 18th minute.
Score: 3-0 min.15: Conache’s penalty blow. 8-0, min.31: Bonaparte try. 11-0, min.36: Drop by Plai. 11-3, min.38: Richardis hit. 14-3, min.44: Conache hit. 14-10, min.51: try by Laforga, which Richardis passes. 17-10, min.54: Conache hit. 17-17, min.58: Saleta try, which Richardis passes. 17-24, min. 65: Nieto’s essay, which Richardis passes. 20-24, min.64: Conache hit. 23-24, min. 68: Conache hit. 20-29, min.70: Carmona’s essay. 23-29, min.74; Conache blow
Incidents: Match for third place in the European Rugby Championship, played at the Ontime Butarque Stadium, in Leganés (Madrid). Approximately 6,000 spectators. Saleta was elected MVP of the match.EFE
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