Spain Women's and Sweden Men's teams on the top

 

Spain now know that a win in Sweden this coming weekend will guarantee them the women’s Rugby Europe Championship title after they made it two victories from two in this year’s event by beating Netherlands on Saturday.

credit : Natascha Van Mullem (SportSnapNl)

 

Going into the match at the National Rugby Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands led the four-team event with two bonus point wins from two.

After a 22-5 loss they still lead on 10 points, but they have completed their three matches while Spain (nine points) still have the aforementioned Swedish trip to come and are favourites to win that and, as a result, earn top spot.

Portugal, who have completed their matches, are currently third on five points with Sweden on zero points from two games.

Before they could think about the upcoming match in Trelleborg, all Spain were focused on was their tricky outing in Amsterdam a couple of days ago.

Netherlands knew they needed a fast start in front of a home crowd, but it was the Spanish who got off to a flyer, back-row Lia Pineiro going over for a try after three minutes converted by stand-off Amalia Argudo.

Home scrum-half Marit Lemmens then missed a penalty for the hosts before things got better in the 17^th minute for Spain when Clara Piquero, the winger, went over for a five-pointer.

And they were 19-0 up after 33 minutes when full-back Claudia Pena got in on the act, her try converted by Argudo to make it 19-0 at half-time despite a late missed penalty by the number 10.

In the early part of the second half Netherlands made quite a few replacements to try and get back into things and it was one of their subs who got them on the scoreboard.

Replacement Brechtje Karst’s unconverted try gave them something of a lifeline in the 57^th minute, but a penalty by Pena made it 22-5 to Spain on the hour mark and they were still in control.

The visitors could not secure a try bonus point late on, but the win was a solid one and leaves their hopes of retaining the title in their own hands come this Saturday in Sweden.

Credit : Daniel Storch 

Meanwhile, in the men’s Trophy on Saturday, Sweden and Ukraine played out an entertaining match with the home side coming out on top 36-24 in Trelleborg to go top of the standings.

In Pool B of the men’s Conference on Saturday, Austria defeated Bosnia & Herzegovina 57-17 in Vienna and Luxembourg won away in in Budapest against Hungary 18-15. Luxembourg top that pool as a result right now.

credit : Raybirg Photo 

And on Sunday, in a men’s under-18 qualifier, Germany beat Poland 34-12 at Rugby-Klub Heusenstamm. The victors now progress to a match versus Switzerland away from home on April 28.

credit : Philipp Haase

Gary Heatly