Spain defeats the ‘All Blacks’ and makes history with its first World Series final

Dec. 1 () –

The Spanish men’s rugby sevens team has made history by reaching a World Series final for the first time after beating New Zealand (19-14) in the semifinals of the event being held this weekend in Dubai.

For the second time in the tournament, the ‘Lions’ defeated the ‘All Blacks’, whom they had already beaten in the group stage. The New Zealanders took the lead in the first moments thanks to a try by Oli Mathis, but before the break Manuel Moreno equalized the score.

In the second half, Pol Pla came back for the Spanish with a great assist from Tobías Sainz-Trapaga, who achieved his 100th try with the Spanish shirt. In the last minutes, Jeremy Trevitchick achieved the try of tranquility for Spain. With time already up, the captain of the ‘All Blacks’, Dylan Collier, scored the last try.

Previously, in their quarterfinal match, Spain beat Great Britain (14-19) in a very close match. This same Sunday at 5:11 p.m., Paco Hernández’s team will face Fiji for the title of the first round of the season and for the lead in the Series.

For its part, the Spanish women’s team fell to Brazil (15-29) in the match to see which team would face China in the fight for ninth place. The Europeans were surpassed on the scoreboard by the Brazilians thanks to a great individual play by Thalia Costa. Before the break, Spain closed the gap thanks to Olivia Fresneda’s try.

In the second half, María Ribera’s players added tries from Olivia Fresneda again and Abril Camacho, but in the last minutes, Raquel Kochhann, Isidora Lopes and Mariana Nicolau decided the match for the ‘canarinhas’.