Spain were comprehensively outplayed by a physically dominant Australia at the AIA Arena in Kutaisi, Georgia. Australia controlled every aspect of play in their Round 1 game at the World Rugby Junior World Championship.
The nightmare started early with Australia getting a converted try within four minutes and when Spain´s Carlos Dela Fuente was given a yellow card off the restart for having a head, Spain were a try and a man down before touching the ball. A succession of missed line outs, physical domination in the scrum and being outclassed led to Australia scoring at more than a point a minute to be 49-0 up at half time.
Australia´s Tom Robinson opened the scoring in the second half as the nightmare looked set to continue but mercifully Spain would score a try of their own through Ivan Farace. The second half would at least seem more respectful with seven Australian tries to Spain´s four and a 90-22 final score. Spain now have the simple task of playing France to look forward to.
Crumbs of comfort in Junior World Championship for Spain
“If we can handle the contact , we can be competitive.” Those were the words of Spanish Under 20´s Head Coach Ricardo Martinena in the pre match press conference. They couldn´t. It really is as simple as that. The defining example of this was Spain´s number 15 running it back in the first half, to be manhandled and unable to find the ground for an Australian turnover.
It´s a horrible result but the physical difference in Spain´s team , many earning their spot through the part time club rugby scene in Spain was no match for Australia´s professionalised regime. Maybe in a pre gym rat era of Rugby Union that would work but now it will not.
So is there anything to take from this game? Well they did keep playing to the end to snatch a bonus point, which may call into question that system but that isn´t Spain´s problem here. Second, the physicality problem is easily solved with time and frankly that is a gap which at the adult level, as Spanish players move to France and professional teams, will simply collapse.
However, it may be best for Spain to look at the group stage as a warm up for the 13-16th playoffs as France and an increasingly professionalised Fiji (now invited into the magic Nations Championship circle, whose under 20´s only lost by 30 points to France) are the final two group games. Like a Formula 1 driver, Spain and Tier 1 nations are simply racing with different engines.
Photos used with the permission of World Rugby.
