{"id":92633,"date":"2025-08-25T22:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T22:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/92633\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T22:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T22:41:10","slug":"a-whole-new-experience-spain-push-black-ferns-in-world-cup-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/92633\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A whole new experience’ \u2013 Spain push Black Ferns in World Cup clash"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spain<\/a> may not have stunned the World Champions, but their brave showing set the tone for their World Cup<\/a> campaign, holding the Black Ferns<\/a> to just a 21\u20133 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

The Leonas were welcomed by a raucous atmosphere at York Community Stadium, with more than 7,000 fans making their voices heard. That energy fueled Spain\u2019s spirited defensive effort, which saw them rack up an astonishing 170 successful tackles.<\/p>\n

For veteran prop Laura Delgado, the crowd\u2019s passion was decisive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have played in a lot of matches, experienced rugby in so many countries, but what I experienced today was a completely new experience to me. Like, wow. The crowd was immense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

\u2018This Energy Never Stops\u2019 \u2013 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025<\/p>\n

\"Video\u2018This Energy Never Stops\u2019 \u2013 Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025<\/p>\n

With 51 caps to her name, Delgado admitted the fans gave Spain<\/a> a lift even as New Zealand<\/a> pushed them to the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey inspired us to a level that I cannot put into words. New Zealand<\/a> was challenging our bodies to the limit, but we didn\u2019t feel the pain, as the fans kept giving us a morale boost. I just wanted to smile the whole time. I thought to myself, \u2018Por nosotras y por ellos\u2019 \u2013 \u2018we are going to do this for us and for them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Women’s Rugby World Cup<\/p>\n

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New Zealand Women <\/p>\n

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Spain Women <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Lock Lourdes Alameda<\/a> echoed the sentiment, pointing to the impact of the crowd throughout the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t contain our emotions. Look, when we first arrived, there were people with drums to welcome us. From the warm-up to the post-match, they were there for us. We felt empowered. It made that last try feel even better. We owe them massively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alameda, who completed 19 tackles, was proud of how Spain<\/a> stood their ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy. I think I would be lying if I said I didn\u2019t feel happy and proud about our performance. We wanted to tackle them, to throw them back, to try and match their physicality. I think we could\u2019ve done better when we had the ball, but still, we did well. We scored a try from a pick-and-go against New Zealand<\/a>. That\u2019s massive for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fly-half Amalia Argudo<\/a> offered insight into the Leonas\u2019<\/a> mindset heading into the clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came into the game with a lot of \u2018ganas\u2019. We wanted to show them who we are and make life a living hell for New Zealand<\/a>. We weren\u2019t going to throw the game, even if they are the World Champions. We deserve to be here, and we will be a competitive team until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Argudo, who scored Spain\u2019s<\/a> first points of the tournament, made it clear the moment belonged to more than just her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt belonged to the whole team. That kick wasn\u2019t only mine; it was the whole team that scored those first three points. We are more than the 15 players who started the game; we are the 23 who were called for the game, the 32 picked for the World Cup,<\/a> the 50 who fought for a chance to be in England. We are a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delgado highlighted discipline as the key to frustrating the Black Ferns.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked hard and with precision when it came to discipline. We had conceded far too many penalties during our tour of Japan, and after carefully reviewing the situation, we identified areas for improvement. I think it was a cornerstone of our strong first half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Argudo knows Ireland<\/a> will pose a different challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland<\/a> is a completely different beast, as they have their own playing style. For us to have any chance of scoring points against them, we need to have the same mindset as we did against New Zealand. We need to take the game to them and not wait for it to come to us. We need to pressure them and find a way to keep possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Delgado, Spain\u2019s<\/a> display in York reinforced the country\u2019s wider potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain<\/a> has unlimited potential as a sporting nation, and the fans play a key role in it. We knew we were going to face the World Champs, so our confidence wasn\u2019t the best. But the moment we stepped onto the pitch, it changed. All the struggles that we endured, all the pain that we had to live through, were just gone, and it was because of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain may not have stunned the World Champions, but their brave showing set the tone for their World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-92633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}