12-22: Spain finishes sixth after failing to beat New Zealand

Spain Sevenon May 31, finished the Valladolid World Series in sixth position after losing to New Zealandwho thus “took revenge” for the duel in Hong Kong in which the “Lions” were third, by taking full advantage of their numerical superiority.

The Spanish team came out driven by the thousands of people who cheered from the stands of the José Zorrilla stadium, where it was clear that their only objective was to obtain fifth place after the painful defeat in the quarterfinals against South Africa in the final stages.

However, it was New Zealand that opened the box with a mark of Jayden Keelanwhich did not affect the Spanish, since in the 3rd minute, Jaime Manteca the ‘try man’ of the Lions7, was in charge of rehearsing and converting the throw to sticks.

Those of Paco Hernandez They displayed their best game in those moments of the clash, which translated into another record of Pol Plawhich allowed the Spanish to reach the break with an advantage on the scoreboard (12-5).

But, after the resumption, Telmo Fisher was sent to the “sin bin” after seeing the yellow card, which immediately led to a try for Akuila Rokolisoawhich was succeeded by another Jayden Keeranwith which the Oceanians regained control of the score (12-17).

Spain did everything in its power to achieve victory, but, in this case, it could not overcome the visiting defense, nor the yellow team. Juan Ramos in the final stages, in which the New Zealanders added another mark to their score to leave the final result at 12-22.

Technical sheet:

12- Spain: Manu Moreno, Josep Serres, Telmo Fisher, Pol Pla, Anton Legorburu, Beltrán Ortega, Jaime Manteca. Francisco Cosculluela, Juan Ramos, Enrique Bolinches, Ángel Bozal, Juan Martínez also played.

22- New Zealand: Fletcher Morgan, Sione Molia, Kitiona Vai, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, Regan Ware, Jayden Keelan, Akuila Rokolisoa. Kele Lasaqa, Scott Gregory, Brady Rush, Riley Williams, Roderick Solo also played.

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales). He showed yellow card to Telmo Fisher (m.9) and Juan Ramos (m.13), from Spain.

Annotations: 0-5 (M.1), Jayden Keelan try. 7-5 (m.3), essay by Jaime Manteca that he himself converts. 12-5 (m.5), essay by Pol Pla. 12-12 (m.9), essay by Akuila Rokolisoa that he passes by himself. 12-17 (m.12), essay by Jayden Keelan. 12-22 (m.13), essay by Ngarohi McGarvey-Black.

Incidents: Match for fifth and sixth place in the HSBC SVNS World Championship, played at the José Zorrilla stadium in Valladolid in front of around 10,000 spectators.