Great win for Spain in Minorca

Strong French Universities beaten

In a warm-up match for the coming World Cup qualifiers Spain beat a strong French Universities side 27-25 in Mahón, the capital of Minorca, on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The French side scored first when No.8 Antoine Battut got the try from a maul. But Spain struck back almost immediately when a good backline movement resulted in a try by wing David Mota to level the scores at 5-all.

A penalty goal by Esteban Roqué gave Spain the lead.

In the 32nd minute the Universities recovered the lead when again from a maul Battut scored his second try, again unconverted.

Just before the break Roqué goaled his second penalty to give Spain the lead at 11-10 at half-time.

The Universities were the first to score in the second half when centre Jérôme Couzier scored their third try, again unconverted.

Roqué reduced the lead to one point with a third penalty goal and then Spain attacked through many phases for a try by Jaime Nava which Roqué converted. A fourth penalty made the score 24-15.

Yet another maul produced yet another try for the Universities, this time scored by Louis Picamoles to make the score 24-20 with 20 minutes still to play.

Nava then kicked a penalty goal. 27-20 with five minutes to play. Right at the death the French students scored their fifth try when Alexis Driollet scored. The conversion could have tied the match but again it was missed.

On 11 March Spain play Andorra in a World Cup qualifier, followed by one against the Netherlands on 29 April. They are both matches Spain would expect to win.

Scorers:

For Spain:
Tries: Mota, Nava
Con: Roqué
Pens: Roqué 4, Nava

For French Universities:
Tries: Battut 2, Couzier, Picamoles, Driollet

Teams:

Spain: 15 César Sempere, 14 David Mota, 13 Ferrán Velazco (captain), 12 Jaime Nava, 11 Ignacio Martín, 10 Esteban Roqué, 9 Pablo Feijóo, 8 Alfonso Mata, 7 Juan González, 6 Iván Criado, 5 César Bernasconi, 4 Andrew Ebbet, 3 Javier Salazar, 2 Diego Zarzosa, 1 Miguel Burgaleta.
Replacements: 16 Mathieu Cidre, 17 César Caballero. 18 Cyril Hijar, 19 Guillermo Barcenas , 20 Facundo Lavino, 21 Javier Canosa, 22 Jon Insausti, 23 Pedro Martín

French Universities: 15 Fabien Gengenbacher, 14 Kevin Zharata, 13 Shawn Hegarty, 12 Jérôme Couzier, 11 Julien Cazenave, 10 Rémi Tales, 9 Brice Salobert, 8 Antoine Battut, 7 Eric Spagno, 6 Alexis Driollet, 5 Julien Salellas, 4 Fabien Flanquart, 3 Guillaume Bergos, 2 Camile Traversa, 1 Aretz Iguiniz
Replacements: 16 Julian Fiorini, 17 Pierre-Philippe Lafond, 18 Emmanuel Etien, 19  Louis Picamoles, 20 Mickaël Campeggia, 21 Christopher Ruiz, 22 Julien Rey.

Referee: Nick Williams (England)
Touch judges:  José Juega, Delfín Motos (both Spain)