Spain kicked off their Women´s Rugby Europe Championship 2026 with a commanding win over Belgium in El Cantizal, Las Rosas (Home of Club de Rugby Ingenieros Industriales) on Saturday 28th March.
With Spain having won eight championships in a row and Belgium recently promoted, the game was not expected to be close and the prediction was duly delivered. Spain found themselves up 27-0 up at half time with an eventual score of 39-0 not flattering them. Although Spain will face tougher tests away from home against the Netherlands (themselves dominant winners over Portugal 59-0 on Sunday 29th March), another commanding win sets up Spain well for another championship .
Six Nations Shutout- The Farce continues
If it is anti-competetive in the men´s game but perhaps for commercial reasons can be defended, there is really no defence in Spain being banished from ever playing in the Women´s Six Nations. A Six Nations shutout so that a part time Wales team get to be battered by England. To what end? So that the Women´s game, instead of forging its own path and offer growth to other countries is Europe, can be a cheap imitation of a superior product in the men´s game.
The continuing shutout follows on from the re-organisation of the Women´s XV Global Series, predictably locking Spain out despite them winning the third tier comp the year before. Qualification to the top echelons of the series being secured by Six Nations performance, a competition Spain are barred from. This bar and complete indifference to success, offering Spain zero opportunities to grow, will of course then be used against them “crowds are to small” in an act of world class stupidity or disengenuousness.
🔥 Final
🇪🇸 39-0 🇧🇪#LoQueNosUne | #LasLeonas pic.twitter.com/X35SMNmZTn
— España Rugby (@ferugby) March 28, 2026
If nations like Spain or the Netherlands have no path to legitimate growth, can anyone really be surprised when people dismiss women´s Rugby in Europe as a cheap copy of an already existing product?
Games and highlights can be viewed on RugbyEuropeTV