Las Leonas, European rugby champions

The Spanish rugby team was proclaimed European rugby champion after winning the final, which was played at the Las Terrazas de Alcobendas field, against Russia by an incontestable 27-0. The Lionesses thus add their ninth continental title in XV and confirm their favoritism. Rugby Europe did not allow the Russian anthem to be played or its flag to be waved following the invasion of Ukraine by troops led by Vladimir Putin.

#LeonasXV | ? European Champions. #LeonasLeonas pic.twitter.com/eK3OTpZXqX

– Spain Rugby (@ferugby) February 26, 2022

The Spanish XV began the clash as if there were no tomorrow, tightening the nuts on a Russian team that saw them and wanted them to get rid of the continuous charges of the Yunque light cavalry. If they managed to survive those initial minutes of suffocating Hispanic pressure unscathed, it was due to the turnovers of the local players in their rapid deployment. A quarter of an hour had to pass before the Las Terrazas score moved thanks to Léa Ducher. The omnipresent defender of Corteva Cocos from Seville finally managed to break the visitor’s defensive fence culminating in a brilliant action to the hand in which the entire three-quarter line moved the ball from the blind side to practically the opposite side. The Slavic team tried to stretch their lines from the speed of their three quarters, but the Spanish defense showed their teeth, making use of his perfect help, always far from their scoring area. That, added to the intense local pressure on those in charge of galvanizing the foreign attack, allowed the Lionesses to abort each of the Russian attempts to continue their phases of offensive play.

Patricia’s Essay

Russia was not resigned to lowering their arms and held their own throughout the first act, although they never entered with real danger beyond the Hispanic 22 line. Quite the opposite of her rival, who she concocted in her desire to put land in between before going through the locker room and got it thanks to a second rehearsal, with time literally up. The great wear and tear of the forward left the field open to the three-quarter line to do their thing by stretching the oval until Patricia García found the hole to launch herself with everything on the Russian goal line and thus put the icing on her international career with the Lionesses.

The second half was extremely disputed, with a team, that of Pavel Baranovskiy, who came out biting in search of a perch that would allow him to sow doubts in the Hispanic ranks, knowing how much work it was costing them to take the lead on the scoreboard . That visiting push forced Spain to put all the meat on the grill to stop the momentum of a Russia that caressed its objective of adding its first five points of the afternoon for almost four minutes of permanent siege on the Spanish 5 line. However, the defensive bravery of Yunque’s pupils, immense in that facet throughout the 80 minutes, ended up forcing the Slavs to lose the ball and, with it, the best option of moving their locker throughout the afternoon disappeared.

#LeonasXV | ? Anna Puig’s rehearsal and Lea Ducher’s transformation to make it 22-0. #LeonasLeonas pic.twitter.com/GFGzGI6NsF

– Spain Rugby (@ferugby) February 26, 2022

The clash entered a phase of exchanging blows in which both teams tried to take possession of the lon, forcing the opponent’s reception errors, which led to it constantly changing owners. As was the case against the Netherlands, Spain would end up regaining control of the game following an offense by Russian scrum-half Anastasiia Chirkova, which left her team inferior midway through the second period. Patri García did not miss the pertinent punishment blow to increase a little more the Spanish income in the light, in which they would be, in the end, her last points as Leona.

The national team locked the Russians in their line of 22 taking advantage of the fact that they played with one less, and although they managed to endure the downpour until the last death rattle of said suspension, they saw how Anna Puig gave them the coup de grâce nine minutes of the conclusion with a third pose, full of claw and heart, which rewarded the Spanish offensive insistence. The dominance of the Spanish national team became palpable again in those last moments in which Zahía Pérez put the icing on the cake and the ninth continental win with a new trial, the fourth in the afternoon, which certified a laborious and impeccable triumph of the lionesses

#LeonasXV | ? Champions, champions ‼️‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/uDLPFj4lyo

– Spain Rugby (@ferugby) February 26, 2022

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