Spain finishes 4th in the Women’s European Championship after winning bronze in Split

The Spanish women’s rugby 7 team won this Sunday against Germany in the consolation final of the tournament Split (Croatia)second and last stage of the European Championshipin which he achieved fourth place in the final.

The 16 points added by the players of Marivi Ribera In this Croatian stage of the European Championship they raised their total to 30, the same as Ireland, winner in Split and continental bronze thanks to a better point difference. The title was for Poland ahead of France.

Spain completed a perfect group stage at the Park Mladezi in the Dalmatian capital, in which on Friday they beat Denmark (10-5) and Great Britain (29-10). The opening match against the weak Danish team was surprisingly even and was resolved with tries by Denisse Gortázar and Carmen Miranda.

Belgium was the rival, in the morning session on Saturday, to elucidate the first place in the group, which went to the ‘Lionesses’ thanks to an excellent performance in defense that tied up the fast Belgian runners and the opportunism of Maria Garcia Gala and April Camachoauthors of a brand in each period.

Great Britain was the opponent in a quarter-final duel that, as happened the day before, had no history due to the superiority of the Spanish, who gave them an almost identical score (27-5) at the end of a match that was settled with three tries before the break (17-0).

In the semi-final, Spain was powerless against Poland despite the initial attempt by Carmen Mirandawho broke through the rival defense in the center and scored between the sticks, but a dribble counterattack by Katarzyna Paszczyk tightened the match on the brink of half-time (7-5).

Ilona Zaisliuc, the powerful Polish wing, was the great protagonist of the second period, as she was irrepressible to score a hat trick that clinched the victory for her team, sealed by another score from Julia Druzgala and made up by a try on the horn by Jimena Blanco (12-31).

Two essays of Denisse Gortázar In the first three minutes of the consolation final against Germany they quickly decided a match that the ‘Lionesses’ dominated to their heart’s content and in which they extended their advantage to the final 24-0 with new scores from Blanco and Inés Paterna.

For its part, the Spanish men’s team this Sunday against those of France and Belgium her last two matches of the final stage of the European Championship played in Split (Croatia), which earned her fourth place in the tournament and sixth in the final classification.

Just as happened in the first stage three weeks ago in Hamburg (Germany), the Spanish team had a hard time starting the competition at the Park Mladezi in the Dalmatian capital, where Great Britain suffered an unexpected defeat (14-19) made up by the trials of Nicolás Nieto and Noah Cánepa.

Cánepa, a Catalan winger for Recoletas Burgos with experience in the World Series, was the most outstanding Spanish player in Split, thanks to his recital of four tries against Poland (43-0) and the mark he served on a plate to Tiago Romero to defeat Germany (17-12) at the close of the group stage.

Great Britain, in the quarterfinals, did not offer much resistance to a Spanish team that took the lead in the first play of the match through Gabriel Rocaries, won the following restart to widen the distance with a score from Nieto and sealed its victory with new poses by Martín Sorreluz and Cánepa (26-17).

Spain barely made it to the oval in the semifinal against France, which dominated the conquest phases and decided its victory (0-22) with two tries in each period, three of them scored by the South African-born defender Johan Wasserman and another scored between the sticks by Merlin Leflamand.

Tornike Megrelidze, Julien Berger and Gaspar Lalli, this one after a spectacular 70-meter run, scored three tries for Belgium in the first half that left the consolation final almost decided at half-time (0-17), although the temporary exclusion of Ryan Godsmark at the beginning of the second half opened an opportunity.

During the two minutes of numerical superiority, Hugo Carriere scored next to the right flag but the return to the field of the Belgian scrum midfielder rebalanced the forces and the ‘Lions’ were helpless in a final stretch comfortably controlled by their opponents (5-17).

The 14 points added by Spain in the Croatian stage bring its total to 24, which earns it the sixth final place in the European Championship won by France, while Italy and Belgium have completed the podium.