Spain’s Women secured a confidence boost going into Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 by beating fellow participants France and the Netherlands to win a warm up tournament in Malaga over the weekend.
The trio of teams preparing for the first ever women’s competition on the RWC Sevens stage were joined in Malaga by an Andalusia Sevens side and played in a round robin on Saturday before the finals on Sunday.
At the end of the first day it was, however, not Spain who finished with a perfect record but France following wins over Andalusia 36-7, the Netherlands 26-7 and Spain 24-14. Spain also suffered a 33-0 loss to the Netherlands.
The match between France and the Netherlands took on extra significance with the sides having been drawn in the same pool – along with Australia and China – for RWC Sevens 2009 in Dubai.
“We came with 15 players and wanted to test all of them and give them a good chance to show what they’re worth … match results are less important in this case,” said Dutch coach Silvester Ramakers after the French loss.
Day two was a different story with Spain, inspired by the performances of Berta García and Raquel Socías, edging the Netherlands – who had finished runners up to England in the European qualifier last June – 17-14 in the semi finals to set up a rematch with France.
France, who had beaten Andalusia 41-0 in the other semi final, were unable to repeat their first day victory over Spain with Jose Ignacio Inchausti’s charges running out 19-12 winners in the final beneath the Malaga sun.
The tournament enabled Inchausti to finalise the 12 players who will travel to Dubai with the performance of Georgina de Swert Burrull earning her a spot alongside Laura Llado, Angela Del Pan, sisters Julia and Bárbara Pla, Marta Pocurull, García, Marina Bravo, Agurtzane Obregozo, Isabel Rodríguez, Montserrat Poza and Socias.
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