Spanish national rugby union team
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| Nickname (s) | El XV del León | ||
| Association | Federación Española de Rugby | ||
| National stadium | Estadio Nacional Complutense , Madrid | ||
| Trainer |
 Santiago Santos
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| captain | Jaime Nava | ||
| WR abbreviation | ESP | ||
| WR rank | 16. (69.35 points) (as of February 4, 2020) |
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Most international matches Francisco Puertas Soto (92) |
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Most points scored Esteban Roqué Segovia (257) |
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Most attempts scored César Sempere (31) |
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First international match Spain 9-0 Italy ( Barcelona , May 20, 1929)
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Biggest win Spain 90-8 Czech Republic ( Madrid , April 2, 1995)
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Biggest defeat Spain 10:92 Australia (Madrid, November 1st 2001)
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World Championship Participations: 1. ( 1999 ) Best result: Preliminary round |
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The Spanish national rugby union team represents Spain in the sport of rugby union . It is the World Association International Rugby Board (IRB) in the third strength class (third tier) divided. The Spanish rugby association Federación Española de Rugby (FER) was founded in 1923, was a founding member of FIRA in 1934 and also joined the International Rugby Board in 1988.
Six years after the association was founded, the first international match against Italy was played in 1929 , when the Spaniards won 9-0. The greatest success so far was the participation in the Rugby Union World Cup in 1999 , which, however, was eliminated in the preliminary round. The national team is nicknamed El XV del León (English: the XV of the lion) and usually plays its home games at the Estadio Nacional Universidad Complutense in Madrid .
history
The sport of rugby came to Spain from France at the beginning of the 1920s , initially mainly via Catalonia . The umbrella organization Federación Española de Rugby was founded as early as 1923 and six years later the Spanish national team played their first international match, which was won 9-0 against Italy .
The Spanish Civil War and the difficult post-war years meant that there were hardly any international encounters in the 1940s and they only returned in 1951, after the European Cup for national teams led by the FIRA was founded . 1954 and 1973 you could each achieve the third place of this European amateur championship. After the FIRA European Championship was created in 1973 , two third places were again achieved in 1974 and 1978. Between 1994 and 1996, during the European Championship, which was then divided into two groups, a first (1994/95) and a second (1995/96) rank behind France could be achieved. Between March 1996 and November 1997 you reached the longest winning streak to date, when you could win nine games in a row.
1998/99 achieved their greatest success so far, in Round B of qualifying for the Rugby Union World Cup in 1999, the group won against Portugal , Germany , the Czech Republic and Andorra with four wins from as many games. In round C they finally qualified as group runner-up behind Scotland for the 1999 Rugby Union World Cup . In this one could not achieve success against Scotland, South Africa and Uruguay and were eliminated in the preliminary round.
The results have fluctuated since the European Nations Cup , which was launched in 1999 and is currently the second highest continental competition after the Six Nations . In the first edition, the Spaniards reached fourth place behind Romania , Georgia and Morocco , in 2000/01 and 2001/02 they came fourth again and in 2003/04 they were relegated to Division 2 due to a disappointing sixth place, but managed in the following one 2004-06 season again promotion to the top division by moving into the 4th round of World Cup qualification . In the 2006-08 competition, the Spaniards reached fourth place, behind tournament winners Georgia, Russia and Romania. The best result so far came in 2012 , when the Spaniards finished second after home wins against Georgia, Romania and Ukraine and narrow away defeats against Portugal and Russia.
Results
European Championship
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Rugby Union World Cup
| year | result | Games | Victories | Unent. | Ndlg. | +/- |
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| 1987 | Not invited | |||||
| 1991 | Not qualified | |||||
| 1995 | ||||||
| 1999 | Preliminary round | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 18: 122 |
| 2003 | Not qualified | |||||
| 2007 | ||||||
| 2011 | ||||||
| 2015 | ||||||
| 2019 | ||||||
Nations Cup
| year | result | Games | Victories | Unent. | Ndlg. | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006-2014 | Not invited | |||||
| 2015 | 3rd place | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 35:53 |
| 2016 | 6th place | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 40:94 |
| 2017 | 5th place | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 34:74 |
Tbilisi Cup
| year | result | Games | Victories | Unent. | Ndlg. | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Not invited | |||||
| 2014 | 4th Place | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20: 101 |
| 2015 | Not invited | |||||
Known players
- Oscar Astarloa (including Aviron Bayonnais )
- Carlos Blanco Smith (including Northern Suburbs RFC )
- Damien Elgoyhen (including Aviron Bayonnais )
- Pablo Feijoo (including RFC Waterloo , Leicester Tigers )
- Cyril Hijar (including Stade Toulousain , Stade Bordelais , SC Albi )
- Matthieu López (including Stade Montois )
- Mickaël López (including Aviron Bayonnais )
- Ignacio Martín (including Gran Parma Rugby , Rugby Parma )
- Jesús Moreno (including Aviron Bayonnais , ASM Clermont Auvergne , Union Bordeaux Bègles , Leeds Carnegie )
- Oriol Ripol (including Northampton Saints , Sale Sharks , Barbarian FC , Worcester Warriors )
- Fabien Rofes ( USA Perpignan , RC Narbonne , Montpellier Hérault RC )
- César Sempere (including Montpellier Hérault RC , Nottingham RFC , Northampton Saints )
- Ferran Velazco
- Diego Zarzosa (including Harlequins , Barbarian FC )
The Spanish actor Javier Bardem , an Oscar and Golden Globe winner, was part of the Spanish national team in his youth.
National coach (since 1971)
| Surname | Period |
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 Gérard Murillo |
1971-1993 |
 Bryce Bevin |
1993-1997 |
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Alfonso Feijóo |
1997-1999 |
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Tomás García |
1999-2002 |
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Pierre Perez |
2002-2003 |
 Gerard Glynn |
2004-2010 |
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Regis Sonnes |
2010–2012 |
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Bryce Bevin |
2012-2013 |
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Santiago Santos |
Since 2013 |
International matches
As of March 7, 2020
Legend:
| opponent | Games | Victories | Ndlg. | Unent. |
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 Andorra
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3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
 Argentina
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4th | 0 | 4th | 0 |
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Australia
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Belgium
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18th | 15th | 2 | 1 |
 Brazil
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2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 Chile
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6th | 4th | 2 | 0 |
 Denmark
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Germany
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24 | 14th | 8th | 2 |
 Fiji
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Georgia
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21st | 3 | 17th | 1 |
 Hong Kong
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Italy
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27 | 3 | 23 | 1 |
 Japan
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3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
.svg){kind=small} Yugoslavia
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4th | 4th | 0 | 0 |
 Canada
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2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
 Kenya
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Croatia
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2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
 Morocco
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20th | 13 | 5 | 2 |
 Moldova
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Namibia
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7th | 5 | 2 | 0 |
 Netherlands
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14th | 13 | 0 | 1 |
 Poland
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16 | 10 | 6th | 0 |
 Portugal
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36 | 24 | 10 | 2 |
 Romania
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38 | 4th | 34 | 0 |
 Russia
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23 | 7th | 16 | 0 |
 Samoa
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Scotland
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Sweden
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2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 Switzerland
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Soviet Union
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7th | 0 | 7th | 0 |
 Zimbabwe
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7th | 5 | 2 | 0 |
 Slovenia
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 South Africa
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
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Czech Republic
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8th | 6th | 2 | 0 |
 Czechoslovakia
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5 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
 Tonga
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 Tunisia
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5 | 4th | 1 | 0 |
 Ukraine
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2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
 Hungary
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1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
 Uruguay
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12 | 6th | 6th | 0 |
 United States
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3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
.svg){kind=small} Wales
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| total | 335 | 158 | 165 | 12 |
Unofficial teams (selection)
| opponent | Games | Victories | Ndlg. | Unent. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Barbarian FC
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1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
 New Zealand Māori
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2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| total | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ World Rugby Rankings. world.rugby, February 4, 2020, accessed November 26, 2019 .
- ↑ Breaking the mold: Spain at RWC 1999 ( Memento from September 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Balance on stats.espnscrum.com
Web links
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