Spain and Portugal will meet in a much-anticipated women’s Rugby Europe Championship match on Saturday.
On March 3, the men’s teams from the two nations met in a Championship semi-final and Portugal came out on top 33-30 after a thrilling encounter, so if this one is half as good then the spectators at Pins Vens will be in for a treat.
It kicks-off at 5pm local (4pm UTC) and hosts Spain will be big favourites given that they are 13th in the world rankings and the defending champions while Portugal are 24th in the world and new to the expanded Championship.
Spain go into this one having been edged out 15-13 by South Africa in a cracking Test match in Valladolid last weekend.
They led 13-5 in that one at one point thanks to a penalty by stand-off Amalia Argudo and tries from replacement Claudia Cano and full-back Claudia Pena. However, a seven-point penalty try and a late penalty then won it for the visitors.
In the Championship, Spain have been the team to beat in recent years and will want to get their campaign underway positively.
After this they travel to Netherlands and Sweden on April 6 and April 13 in the four-tea tournament while this weekend is Portugal’s final match.
They are currently second in the table behind the Netherlands after a 31-7 defeat to them and then a win over Sweden which came earlier this month.
In that latter game they took on board the lessons learnt versus the Netherlands last month and, in changeable weather conditions, came out on top 27-0 with a bonus point in Lisbon.
It will take their best performance to have any chance of causing a shock against Spain, but they will throw everything at it and in captain Daniela Correia, the full-back, they have an excellent player and leader.
You can watch the game live on rugbyeurope.tv or over on our YouTube channel.
