Spain national rugby union team

Spain

Nickname(s)	Los Leones
Emblem	Lion
Union	Spanish Rugby Federation
Head coach	Santiago Santos
Captain	Jesús Recuerda Núñez
Most caps	Francisco Puertas (93)
Top scorer	Esteban Roqué Segovia (270)
Top try scorer	César Sempere (31)
Home stadium	Estadio Nacional Complutense
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	22 (as of 6 March 2016)
Highest	18 (2013)
Lowest	32 (2005)
First international
Spain 9–0 Italy (Barcelona, Spain; 20 May 1929)
Biggest win
Spain 90–8 Czech Republic (Madrid, Spain; 2 April 1995)
Biggest defeat
Spain 10–92 Australia (Madrid, Spain; 1 November 2001)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1999)
Best result	Pool stage, 1999
Website	www.ferugby.es

The Spain national rugby union team, nicknamed Los Leones, represent Spain in rugby union. Rugby union in Spain is administered by the Spanish Rugby Federation. The team annually takes part in the European Nations Cup, the highest European rugby championship outside the Six Nations. As of 6 March 2015, Spain is ranked 22nd in the world.

Rugby union in Spain dates back to 1901, although Spain did not play its first international until 1929, beating Italy 9-0 in Barcelona. Throughout the century, Spain mostly played against other European opponents such as France, Italy, Romania , West Germany, the Soviet Union, and Portugal. The team's greatest moment of success came in 1999, when Spain qualified for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Despite being whitewashed, the team performed admirably in a group which included South Africa and Scotland.

Today, Spain competes in the European Nations Cup against Georgia, Germany, Portugal, Romania, and Russia. Spain has never been crowned European champions, though has come close. The closest they've come to becoming European champions was in 2012, having beaten both Romania and Georgia and finishing second. Many players have moved abroad to play professionally in France, in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 or possibly expanded 2023 editions of the World Cup.^[1]

History

Early history and amateur era

The exact starting point of rugby union in Spain is unknown; Catalan student Baldiri Aleu introduced the game from France to a mainstream Spanish audience in 1921, but the game might have been played on Spanish soil earlier.^[2] Through the 1920s, the game gradually gained popularity through universities in the country. The first Copa del Rey de Rugby was organized in 1926, and won by Barcelona. An unofficial Spanish XV played France, including Yves du Manoir, in 1927, but it was organised by a rebel governing body.^[3]

Spain played their first officially recognised match in 1929, winning 9-0 over Italy in the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc.^[3] During the 1930s the Spanish rugby team played sporadically in the 1930s, playing against the national teams of Italy, Morocco, Germany, and Portugal. Due to the outbreak of World War II, rugby in much of Europe was suspended, and this included Spain. Rugby operations throughout Europe were continued in the 1950s; through this decade the Spanish struggled to the likes of West Germany, Italy and Romania. This pattern of consistency continued somewhat in the 1960s and 1970s; Spain traditionally struggled versus more established opponents such as Romania and Italy, but beat other neighboring sides such as Portugal and Morocco. However, while no official games were played between Spain and the Home Nations or the SANZAR, some Spanish sides traveled to play against various foreign sides.^[4]

The 1980s proved to be somewhat of a golden age for Spanish rugby; for the first time Spain played against non-FIRA competition, playing a test against both the Māori All Blacks as well as South American giants Argentina in November 1982, in Madrid. The Spanish were thrashed 66 to 3 to the Māori, but came close to upsetting Argentina, losing only 28 to 19. The Spanish also received Zimbabwe through various tests in the 80s. The Spanish recorded upsets, defeating Zimbabwe in Harare in 1984, winning 30-18. Even more impressive, the Spanish swept a two game tour in Zimbabwe, a team that had appeared in the 1987 Rugby World Cup, winning 28-16 and 14-9 in Bulawayo and Harare. Other notable results in this period included beating Uruguay 18-6, as well as giving scares to the sides of England and Scotland, and coming within 10 points of beating the Māori in 1988. By the end of the 80s, Spain was considered one of the best non-5 Nations teams in Europe, just barely behind Romania, Italy, and the Soviet Union. Spain officially joined the IRB in 1987, after not being invited for the 1987 Rugby World Cup, despite the USSR declining an invitation.

Professional era (1989 - present)

Spain playing the Czech Republic

Spain playing against Portugal.

The 1990s provided a mixed fortune of both near misses and eventual success. In the 1991 qualifying rounds, Spain easily toppled its first group consisting of the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium, all games being played at home. However, Spain very narrowly missed on qualifying for the Rugby World Cup, losing 19 - 6 against Romania, finishing third behind Italy and Romania. In 1992, Spain finally beat Romania for the first time in 1992, winning 6-0. Spain again nearly beat Argentina that same year, only losing 43 to 34 in a shootout in Madrid.

1995 began in similar fashion to the 1991 campaign, easily toppling the first group. However, Spain were unfortunately placed in a group with Wales, losing the key fixture 54 - 0, and again coming close, yet not close enough.

Spain began their quest for 1999 Rugby World Cup qualification in Pool 3 of Round B of the European qualification. They won all four of their games in the round, finishing first in the group above Portugal. They, along with Portugal advanced to the next pool round with Scotland. They finished second and qualified for their first Rugby World Cup.

For the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Spain were in Pool A, along with Scotland, South Africa and Uruguay. Their first ever World Cup game was played against Uruguay, with Spain losing 27-15. They lost their subsequent pool games to Scotland and the Springboks by 40 points, both of which were played at Murrayfield. They failed to score a try in the tournament, the only team in the World to have qualified but not scored a try in the World cup.

Spain began 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifying games in May 2002. Spain advanced to Round 3 after defeating Portugal. However, they lost to both Italy and Romania, and moved through to face Russia for a place in the repechage competition. Despite losing the first game in Madrid 3-36, and looking dead in the water, Spain pulled off a very unlikely victory, winning 38-22. Despite losing on aggregate, Spain went through the repechage due to Russia being disqualified for fielding ineligible players. They defeated Tunisia and moved on to face the United States. Spain lost 62 - 13 and 58 - 13, again missing out on the World Cup.

For the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Spain finished at the top of Pool A or Round 2 of the European qualification and advanced to Round 3 where they went into Pool A. Here they won all four fixtures to finish at the top and advance to the play-off. There they faced Germany, and although they lost the first game, they won the second and went through on a 42-28 aggregate and went into Round 4 where they defeated the Czech Republic to enter Round 5. However they lost out to Romania and Georgia in Pool B, ending their hopes of reaching the World Cup in France.

Spain missed the qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, this time struggling through their fixtures. They lost 8 of their 10 fixtures, beating only Germany those two times, and missed out on advancing to the next round of qualifying.

Spain entered the top 20 in the IRB ranking in February 2012 for the first time following a 25-18 win over the higher ranked Georgia, and Spain remained in the top 20 throughout the year, ending 2012 ranked 18th.^[5] Despite this, the 2015 campaign was similarly disastrous, winning only two of their games as well as two draws. This lead to a restructure of the makeup and strategies of the FER.^[1] Spain has recently participated in the World Rugby Nations Cup and the 2014 IRB Tbilisi Cup.

Strip

Historically, Spain's kit reflected the colours of Spain; a red jersey with blue shorts deriving from the House of Bourbon. Previously, during the 1980s and 1990s, the Spanish team wore a yellow top.^[6]The current home kit consists of a red shirt with a triangular pattern and black on the waist sides, dark blue shorts and dark blue socks, while the away kit consists of a dark blue jersey, red waist sides, dark blue shorts and dark blue socks.

In 2013, it was announced that O'Neills, one of Ireland's most notable sporting brands, would be providing the new kits for Spain. This partnership is expected to last for the rest of the decade.^[7][8]The team has been previously sponsored by Orange and Renfe, and previous kit providers include Canterbury and Viator.

Record

European Nations Cup & FIRA Trophy

FIRA Nations Cup (1965 – 1973)
Nation	Games				Points			Table points	Championships
	played	won	drawn	lost	for	against	difference
France	26	25	0	1	824	198	+626	65	7
Romania	26	17	1	8	528	222	+306	51	1
Czechoslovakia	17	2	2	13	135	411	–267	16	0
Morocco	9	2	0	7	65	332	–267	13	0
Italy	13	4	1	8	86	227	–141	12	0
West Germany	10	1	1	8	81	132	–51	6	0
Spain	3	1	0	2	56	55	+1	5	0
Poland	3	0	0	3	19	132	–113	3	0
Portugal	3	0	0	3	23	108	–85	0	0

Season	Division	Games	Won	Drew	Lost	PF	PA	Points	Position
2000	1	5	2	0	3	109	105	9	4th
2001–02	1	10	3	0	7	246	247	16	4th
2003–04	1	10	0	1	9	129	335	11	6th
2004–06	2	8	7	1	0	364	87	23	1st
2007–08	1	10	4	0	6	233	240	18	4th
2008–10	1	10	2	0	8	145	304	14	5th
2010–12	1A	10	5	0	5	225	275	26	3rd
2012–14	1A	10	2	2	6	159	243	15	4th
2014–16	1A	10	4	1	5	232	207	23	4th

Note: Green signifies promotion; red signifies relegation.

Rugby World Cup record

World Cup record									World Cup qualification record
Year	Finished	P	W	D	L	F	A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not invited								—
1991	Did not qualify								6	4	0	2	159	94
1995									5	4	0	1	179	94
1999	Pool Stage	3	0	0	3	18	122		6	5	0	1	182	144
2003	Did not qualify								9	2	0	7	158	359
2007									14	10	1	3	528	224
2011									10	2	0	8	145	304
2015									10	2	2	6	159	243
Total	1/8	3	0	0	3	18	122		60	29	3	28	1510	1462

Overall

World Rugby Rankings
Top 30 rankings as of 9 May 2016[9]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	96.10
2		Australia	89.33
3		South Africa	87.66
4		England	83.98
5		Wales	83.10
6		Argentina	82.59
7		Ireland	80.33
8		France	78.36
9		Scotland	78.32
10		Japan	77.05
11		Fiji	76.96
12		Georgia	72.62
13		Tonga	71.60
14		Italy	70.78
15		Samoa	70.36
16		Romania	67.52
17		United States	65.68
18		Canada	64.27
19		Russia	63.56
20		Uruguay	63.23
21		Namibia	61.75
22		Spain	60.87
23		Belgium	57.94
24		Germany	57.71
25		Hong Kong	57.17
26		South Korea	56.70
27	2	Ukraine	56.45
28	1	Kenya	55.89
29	1	Chile	55.73
30		Portugal	54.29
*Change from the previous week

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Andorra	3	3	0	0	100.00%	129	43	+86
Argentina	4	0	4	0	0.00%	75	149	-74
Argentina XV	2	0	2	0	0.00%	13	56	-43
Australia	1	0	1	0	0.00%	10	92	-82
Australia A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	36	-33
Belgium	14	12	1	1	85.71%	414	82	-332
Barbarians	1	0	1	0	0.00%	26	52	-26
Canada	1	0	1	0	0.00%	22	60	-38
Chile	4	3	2	0	60.00%	141	86	+55
Croatia	2	1	0	1	50.00%	84	42	+42
Czech Republic	8	6	2	0	75.00%	340	116	+224
Czechoslovakia	5	2	2	1	40.00%	69	63	+6
Denmark	1	1	0	0	100.00%	53	13	+40
England	1	0	1	0	0.00%	9	31	-22
England XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	34	-31
England Saxons	4	0	4	0	0.00%	34	233	-201
England Counties	2	0	2	0	0.00%	21	76	-55
Fiji	1	0	1	0	0.00%	20	39	-19
France XV	26	0	26	0	0.00%	217	1219	-1003
France A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	15	30	-15
French Universities	1	1	0	0	100.00%	27	25	+2
Georgia	17	3	13	1	17.64%	260	547	-287
Germany	11	7	3	1	70.00%	226	147	+79
Hungary	1	1	0	0	100.00%	63	9	+54
Italy	27	3	23	1	12.50%	187	581	-394
Italy A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	0	37	-37
Japan	3	0	3	0	0.00%	43	114	-71
Kenya	1	0	1	0	0.00%	36	27	-9
Moldova	1	1	0	0	100.00%	40	7	+33
Morocco	21	13	6	0	61.90%	332	148	+148
Namibia	3	3	0	0	100.00%	91	60	+31
Netherlands	14	13	0	1	92.85%	394	107	-287
New Zealand Māori	2	0	2	0	0.00%	15	88	-73
Poland	16	10	6	0	62.50%	320	207	+113
Portugal	37	24	10	0	64.86%	769	524	+245
Romania	34	2	32	0	5.88%	329	1001	-672
Russia	19	4	15	0	21.05%	442	587	-145
Scotland	1	0	1	0	0.00%	0	48	-48
Scotland XV	4	0	4	0	0.00%	34	211	-177
Scotland A	3	0	3	0	0.00%	37	110	-73
Slovenia	1	1	0	0	100.00%	76	6	+70
South Africa	1	0	1	0	0.00%	3	47	-44
Emerging Springboks	1	0	1	0	0.00%	13	28	-15
Soviet Union	7	4	3	0	57.14%	138	74	+64
Sweden	2	2	0	0	100.00%	58	29	+29
Switzerland	1	1	0	0	100.00%	40	0	+40
Tunisia	7	6	1	0	85.71%	164	66	+98
Ukraine	2	2	0	0	100.00%	76	38	+48
United States	3	0	3	0	0.00%	29	169	-149
Uruguay	7	3	4	0	42.85%	91	145	-54
Wales	1	0	1	0	0.00%	0	54	-54
Wales XV	1	1	0	0	100.00%	25	7	+18
Wales A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	9	80	-71
West Germany	10	4	5	1	40.00%	137	96	+41
Yugoslavia	4	4	0	0	100.00%	86	17	+69
Zimbabwe	7	5	2	0	71.42%	153	108	+45
Total	356	147	201	8	48.83%	6458	8118	-1660

Players

Current squad

Spain squad for the 21 November 2015 end-of-year test against Chile in Torrelavega.^[10]

Head Coach: Santiago Santos

• Caps Updated: 7 November 2015

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province Beñat Auzqui Hooker 1 August 1983 20 Bordeaux Bègles Juan Anaya Lazaro Hooker 26 June 1986 19 Galwegians Francisco Blanco Prop 30 June 1988 6 Cisneros Xerom Civil Prop 2 April 1994 0 Bordeaux Bègles Jonathan García Prop 16 April 1983 0 Bourgoin Fernando Martin López Perez Prop 14 March 1986 7 Massy Aníbal Bonán Lock 10 June 1984 14 Stade Bagnérais David Barrera Howarth Lock 5 July 1989 17 Vannes Jesus Recuerda Nunez Lock 29 September 1986 36 Libourne Gauthier Gibouin Flanker 24 March 1989 23 Montauban Asier Usarraga Flanker 31 December 1994 0 Biarritz Olympique Jaime Nava de Olano Number 8 1 May 1983 55 Stade Dijonnais Afa Taulí Number 8 29 April 1990 0 Santboiana Gregory Maiquez Scrum-half 7 September 1985 6 Bressane Guillaume Rouet Scrum-half 13 August 1988 6 Bayonne Mathieu Bélie Fly-half 20 February 1988 0 Perpignan Christophe Ruiz Fly-half 29 May 1984 0 Narbonne Fabien Grammatico Centre 16 May 1985 1 Carcassonne Thibault Visensang Centre 9 January 1991 3 Bayonne Sergi Aubanell Wing 4 September 1989 12 Aurillac Sebastien Ascarat Wing 30 May 1988 8 Montauban Julen Goia Iriberri Wing 12 December 1991 8 Mauléon Brad Linklater Fullback 16 May 1985 5 Getxo Artea Notable players Alberto Malo (1986-1999) - 89 caps Francisco Puertas Soto (1994-2001) - 93 caps Cesar Sempere (2004–present) - 27 tries, 161 points Pablo Feijoo - 19 tries Esteban Roque Segovia - 257 points Oriol Ripol (1998-2002) - played 7 seasons in England Diego Zarzosa (1998-2009) - 43 caps Cedric Garcia (2004) - plays in the French Top 14 Coaches Spanish Rugby Coaches Name Tenure Tests Won Drew Lost Win % Bryce Bevin 1993 – 97, 2012 – 13 42 21 3 18 50% Alfonso Feijoo 1997 – 03 48 14 0 34 29.16% Gerard Glynn 2004 – 10 46 20 2 24 43.47% Régis Sonnes 2010 – 12 13 7 0 6 53.84% Santiago Santos 2013 – 24 8 0 16 33.33% See also Spain national rugby union team (sevens) Spain women's national rugby union team Spain women's national rugby union team (sevens) Rugby union in Spain External links (Spanish) Federación Española de Rugby - Official Site Spain at RugbyData.com References "Blog De la Calle: Rugby español, ni español ni... (in Spanish)". Eurosport. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2016. "Historia del Rugby: España". Rugby de Calle. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2016. Richards, Huw A Game for Hooligans: The History of Rugby Union (Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-255-5); Chapter 6, Gathering Storms, p129 "80 años de historia". Arquitectura Rugby. Retrieved 11 March 2016. IRB.com, 2012 in review: Highs and lows in rankings, Jan. 7, 2013, http://www.irb.com/rankings/news/newsid=2064835.html Spain Rugby Shirts, oldrugbyshirts.com, retrieved March 17, 2016 New Spain Rugby Shirt 2014/2015- Spanish Home Rugby Kit 14/15, New Rugby Kits, November 20, retrieved March 17, 2016 Check date values in: |date=, |year= / |date= mismatch (help) Browne, PJ (February 4), Check Out The Spanish Rugby Team's Jersey Made By O'Neills, Balls.ie, retrieved March 17, 2016 Check date values in: |date=, |year= / |date= mismatch (help) "World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 22 April 2016. Convocatoria de la Selección Española XV