Pablo Miejimolle carries the ball behind the forward’s box, the maul he craves to clear the five meters that separate Spain from the process. But what’s in front of it is a wall. Pablo doesn’t give up, he keeps the ball and waits for a crack, but Facundo Monilla accepts the defeat and distributes the oval to other places. Unhappy. Georgia, the European superpower behind the Six Nations, exposed the weaknesses of the XV del León, who were in turmoil after the drama of their World Cup disqualification with a defeat in Torrelavega (3:41).
The misalignment of Gavin Van den Berg – the South African who forged his passport to hide that he was extending his stay outside of Spain in order to be eligible – hastened the departure of the generation who, for the first time in 24 years, are applying for a world championship had qualified the pitch. After the resignation of Alfonso Feijoo as president, Juan Carlos Martín Hansen won the elections, assuring that Santi Santos, the coach of the last two World Cup cycles, would not lead the new stage, but he continues to lead the team to the rugby in this edition Championship, the second season of European rugby, which for the first time splits an eight-team format into two groups of four instead of six. The top two meet in the semi-finals and the tournament ends on March 19 in Badajoz with the final and the fight for third place.
Spain failed to impress in its first two wins. They narrowly beat an underdog like the Netherlands (28-20) in a game in which they didn’t know how to turn their territorial dominance into trials. And they beat a rival in Germany (14-32) who at times overtook the Spaniards. Losing to Georgia means they remain second in the group and will play the semi-finals at home to winners Portugal-Romania on Sunday.
Georgia, winners of nine editions of the rugby championship in the last decade, are the big challenge for Spain, who bordered on the feat with a Pyrrhic defeat (19-25) in Madrid in 2021. It was one of the best games of this generation, giving way to a call with half the players under the age of 25, eight of whom were born in this century.
The Lelos, who won Wales and Italy last year and are bidding for a Six Nations seat, are an experienced team who have traded Spain’s inexperience from their first attack. Fly-half Tedo Abzhandadze controlled the game like clockwork and found the back of Alberto Carmona, one of the new faces, with a perfect shot that was pocketed by opposing wing Akaki Tabutsadze to score the first try just three minutes into the game. The next Georgian sequence had the same result on the same cross.
The great Georgian fortress is at its peak, so Spain’s response was to avoid skirmishes and shoot sticks whenever the opportunity arose. Gonzalo Vinuesa tried three shots almost from midfield in the early stages; only one converted This option, which was valid on close scores, disappeared from the menu when Georgia expanded the score. The mouth that refused the Spanish essay reached his. And Abzhandadze used the open break in the Spanish line after a false tackle to try under the sticks and left the fight decided at half-time (3-22).
The new phase of Spanish rugby aims to play fewer matches in Madrid and sell the sport elsewhere. Torrelavega, looking good on the pages, provided an opportunity to honor Cantabrian captain Manu Mora. El Nuevo Vivero de Badajoz, with 15,000 spectators, was chosen for this first Rugby Championship final due to its proximity to Portugal: two hobbies for the price of one.
The paradox of Spanish rugby is that it is ranked 16th in the world without a ticket to the World Cup, contested by 20 teams including Romania and Portugal, behind XV del León. Among the many aspects that have prevented Spain from competing with Georgia is their indiscipline: too many penalties against an opponent who doesn’t give away yards. Wanting to shift the focus away from its discontinuity, Santos appreciates the quarry’s work. “The level of the Spanish team is animal,” he promises.
It wasn’t against Georgia, who stretched their tally to seven tries and even in the final action didn’t allow Spain to conquer their goal area, which they defended with two players down for two last yellow cards. The final result wasn’t a bad dream, even though Antonio Resines was in the stands.
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