MEN’S INTERNATIONAL MATCH:
Saturday, November 8 –
SPAIN 24 IRELAND XV 61, Estadio Municipal de Butarque, Leganés
Scorers: Spain: Tries: Vicente Boronat 2, Ekain Imaz; Cons: Gonzalo López Bontempo
Ireland XV: Tries: Darragh Murray, Michael Milne, Jude Postlethwaite, Robert Baloucoune 2, Paul Boyle, Ben Murphy, Shayne Bolton, Scott Wilson; Cons: Harry Byrne 8
HT: Spain 10 Ireland XV 42
Out-half Byrne converted all six tries, and supplied two assists, as Cullie Tucker’s young side led 42-10 at half-time. Robert Baloucoune flew over twice in the right corner, as the Irish attack displayed a clinical edge.
Darragh Murray, Michael Milne, Jude Postlethwaite, and Paul Boyle also touched down before the break, while Spain, playing at Estadio Municipal de Butarque for the first time, hit back twice through Vicente Boronat.
Captained by Tom Stewart, the Ireland XV crossed the whitewash three times during the closing 50 minutes, as Ben Murphy finished off a cracking counter attack, and Shayne Bolton and replacement Scott Wilson scored from closer in.
A number of Irish players put their hands up for senior squad selection – there were 10 Test players in the starting XV, six of whom were involved during the recent summer tour – while a brace from Ekain Imaz showed Spain’s resilience.
The ball-in-play time was high right from the off, and a precise 50:22 kick from scrum half Murphy quickly put Tucker’s charges in scoring range. Spain, who have qualified for the 2017 Rugby World Cup, managed to force a knock-on.
The visitors struck for the opening score soon after, building from their ultra-reliable lineout. Ruadhán Quinn advanced out wide from a Byrne pass, and some neat interplay saw Boyle offload for Murray to raid over from 15 metres out.
Following Byrne’s conversion, Spain profited from a couple of penalties, showing the effectiveness of their lineout drive as flanker Boronat grounded the ball following Quinn’s sin-binning for a collapse. Gonzalo López Bontempo missed the uprights at 7-5.
Imaz’s turnover penalty prevented the Ireland XV from building for a response. However, there was no stopping Milne on the quarter hour mark, the loosehead driving in under the posts after Bolton’s terrific run and an Alex Soroka turnover.
Livewire full-back Michael Lowry was particularly prominent, and one of his bursts out wide set the wheels in motion for the third Irish try. Byrne’s neat dummy and well-timed pass sent Postlethwaite over to make it 21-5.
The Irish attacking waves kept coming, Dan Kelly doing well to power through midfield and link with Stewart who just could not find the supporting Murphy. Still, Lowry and Murphy soon popped up together on the left wing to make more metres.
The Ireland XV lead was extended in the 28th minute when Kelly’s inviting pass had Baloucoune outpacing two defenders for the corner. Byrne nailed his most difficult conversion with a peach of a kick.
The Spanish side carried a counter-attacking threat, with Gonzalo Vinuesa’s clever kick setting up Martiniano Cian to launch his own kick chase. Lowry coughed up a penalty, Soroka pinched the initial lineout, but Boronat squeezed over to complete his brace.
The Ireland XV pack had a cut at scoring from a maul of their own, with Stewart being stopped just short, before Byrne’s radar-like raking pass put Baloucoune over for another seven-pointer out wide. The Ulster winger was quick off the mark to score ahead of John Wessel Bell.
A late bout of pressure led to Spain losing their discipline as they tried to hold out, and centre Iñaki Mateu saw yellow. Number 8 Boyle made the numerical advantage count when he scored from Tom O’Toole’s textbook behind-the-back pass.
Inside three minutes of the restart, a breathless counter attack claimed try number seven. Byrne sent Postlethwaite breaking downfield, and Murphy showed his pace on a 40-metre run-in, evading Cian’s clutches along the way.
Byrne converted with the aid of the right-hand post, maintaining his 100% record with a third successful kick from close to the touchline. Now 49-10 behind, Spain raised the decibel level amongst the home crowd with some purposeful phases.
They duly capitalised on Soroka’s yellow card for a high tackle on Bell, as number 8 Imaz surged over from a five-metre scrum. López Bontempo split the posts with his first successful kick of the evening.
Zac Ward, who had replaced Lowry with Bolton moving to full-back, led the Irish response with a determined carry. Milne also went the direct route, before Byrne’s soft hands played in Bolton for an unconverted 52nd-minute score.
The Ireland XV were still down to 14 men when Stewart was denied a try for a knock-on following a powerful maul, which contained the newly-introduced Alex Usanov, the youngest member of the squad at 20, and Diarmuid Mangan.
Chasing down his own deft kick through, Boyle was beaten to the touchdown by Spanish replacement Lucien Richardis. Nonetheless, it was Boyle who provided support for Wilson to wrestle his way over in the 67th minute, with the lineout once more the initial launchpad.
Byrne’s right boot took the Ireland XV through the 60-point mark – and brought his own tally to 16 points – but Spain’s persistence paid off with a late consolation effort under the floodlights.
Having not rolled away quickly enough close to the Irish try-line, replacement centre Cathal Forde was in the sin bin when López Bontempo brilliantly bulldozed through and slipped Imaz over for a closing seven-pointer.
TIME LINE: 6 minutes – Ireland XV try: Darragh Murray – 0-5; conversion: Harry Byrne – 0-7; 11 mins – Ireland yellow card: Ruadhán Quinn; 12 mins – Spain try: Vicente Boronat – 5-7; conversion: missed by Gonzalo López Bontempo – 5-7; 17 mins – Ireland XV try: Michael Milne – 5-12; conversion: Harry Byrne – 5-14; 22 mins – Ireland XV try: Jude Postlethwaite – 5-19; conversion: Harry Byrne – 5-21; 28 mins – Ireland XV try: Robert Baloucoune – 5-26; conversion: Harry Byrne – 5-28; 34 mins – Spain try: Vicente Boronat – 10-28; conversion: missed by Gonzalo López Bontempo – 10-28; 36 mins – Ireland XV try: Robert Baloucoune – 10-33; conversion: Harry Byrne – 10-35; 39 mins – Spain yellow card: Iñaki Mateu; 40 mins – Ireland XV try: Paul Boyle – 10-40; conversion: Harry Byrne – 10-42; Half-time – Spain 10 Ireland XV 42; 43 mins – Ireland XV try: Ben Murphy – 10-47; conversion: Harry Byrne – 10-49; 47 mins – Ireland XV yellow card: Alex Soroka; 49 mins – Spain try: Ekain Imaz – 15-49; conversion: Gonzalo López Bontempo – 17-49; 52 mins – Ireland XV try: Shayne Bolton – 17-54; conversion: missed by Harry Byrne – 17-54; 67 mins – Ireland XV try: Scott Wilson – 17-59; conversion: Harry Byrne – 17-61; 73 mins – Ireland XV yellow card: Cathal Forde; 79 mins – Spain try: Ekain Imaz – 22-61; conversion: Gonzalo López Bontempo – 24-61; Full-time – Spain 24 Ireland XV 61
SPAIN: John Wessel Bell (Harlequins Rugby Club, Pretoria); Martiniano Cian (VRAC Quesos Entrepinares), Iñaki Mateu (Recoletas Burgos – Caja Rural), Gonzalo López Bontempo (RC Massy), Alberto Carmona (US Colomiers); Gonzalo Vinuesa (Complutense Cisneros), Estanisao Bay (Cajasol Real Ciencias Sevilla – Caja Rural); Thierry Futeu (Liceo Francés), Santiago Ovejero (Recoletas Burgos – Caja Rural), Jon Zabala (Section Paloise) (capt), Matthew Foulds (UE Santboiana), Ignacio Piñeiro (FC Grenoble), Manex Ariceta (Aviron Bayonnais), Vicente Boronat (Recoletas Burgos – Caja Rural), Ekain Imaz (Biarritz Olympique).
Replacements: Álvaro García (Stade Français), Raúl Calzón (VRAC Quesos Entrepinares), Joaquín Domínguez (Os Belenenses), Imanol Urraza (Recoletas Burgos – Caja Rural), Matheo Triki (INEXO El Salvador), Nicolás Infer (Complutense Cisneros), Álex Saleta (VRAC Quesos Entrepinares), Lucien Richardis (Stade Toulousain).
IRELAND XV: Michael Lowry (Banbridge RFC/Ulster); Robert Baloucoune (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Jude Postlethwaite (City of Armagh RFC/Ulster), Dan Kelly (Munster), Shayne Bolton (Connacht); Harry Byrne (UCD RFC/Leinster), Ben Murphy (Clontarf FC/Connacht); Michael Milne (UCD RFC/Munster), Tom Stewart (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster) (capt), Tom O’Toole (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster), Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster), Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht), Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Ruadhán Quinn (Young Munster RFC/Munster), Paul Boyle (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht).
Replacements: Lee Barron (Dublin University FC/Munster), Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster), Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Diarmuid Mangan (UCD RFC/Leinster), David McCann (Banbridge RFC/Ulster), Nathan Doak (Banbridge RFC/Ulster), Cathal Forde (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht), Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster).
Referee: Tomás Bertazza (UAR)
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