Spain national rugby union team

The Spain national rugby union team are a national sporting side of Spain, representing them at rugby union. Spain have been playing rugby since the late 1920s, playing their first international against Italy in 1929. They have qualified for one Rugby World Cup, in 1999 where they were pooled with Scotland, South Africa and Uruguay. Spain have also in the past contested the European Nations Cup. Spain plays in red and blue colours.

History
Spain played their first rugby union match in 1929, winning 9-0 over Italy. Throughout the 1930s the Spanish contested games against other European sides, winning the majority of them, losing only to Italy and Germany. The national Spanish rugby team did not participate in any rugby during the 1940s.

The Spanish returned in 1951, and throughout the decade found moderate success. Though the side lost regularly to sides such as Italy and West Germany. The side found success in the earlier years of the 1960s, though there was a lack of games played during the 1963-5. The latter half of the decade saw the Spanish win most of their fixtures against neighbouring European sides.

Spain competed regularly against sides such as Italy, Portugal, Romania, Netherlands, Poland, Morocco and Czechoslovakia.

During the early 1980s Spain played Argentina for the first time, as well as consistently playing their old European rivals, a New Zealand Maori side also played the Spanish in 1982, Spain did however lose the match by over 60 points. Spain played the Soviet Union as well as other new opponents during the decade, including Zimbabwe, whom the Spanish played several times during the mid 1980s.

In 1994 the Spanish played rugby heavy-weights, Wales, who won by over 50 points. During the mid to late 1990s, Spain completed a nine game winning streak, winning games against nine different European sides.

Spain began their quest for 1999 World Cup qualification in Pool 3 of Round B of the European qualification. They won all four of their games in the round, finishing first in the group above Portugal. They, along with Portugal advanced to the next pool round with Scotland. They finished second and qualified for their first Rugby World Cup.

For the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Spain were in Pool A, along with Scotland, South Africa and Uruguay. Their first ever World Cup game was played against Uruguay, with Spain losing 27-15. They lost their subsequent pool games to Scotland and the Springboks by 40 points, both of which were played at Murrayfield.

Spain began 2003 Rugby World Cup qualifying games in May of 2002. Spain advanced to Round 3 after defeating Portugal. However, here they lost to both Italy and Romania, and moved through to face Russia for a place in the repechage competition. They defeated Tunisia and moved onto face the USA, who won the round and qualified into the World Cup.

Spain finished at the top of Pool A or Round 2 of the European qualification for the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and advanced to Round 3 where they went into Pool A. Here they won all four fixtures to finish at the top and advance to the play-off. There they faced Germany, and although they lost the first game, they won the second and went through on a 42-28 aggregate and went into Round 4 where they defeated the Czech Republic to enter Round 5. However they lost out to Romania and Georgia in Pool B.

Among notable players of Spain, Francisco Puertas has attained 96 caps.

Current Squad
Forwards:
 * César Caballero (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * Ion Insausti (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * Javier Salazar (C.R.C Madrid Noroeste)
 * Mathieu Cidre (Graulhet, France)
 * Diego Zarzosa (C.R.C Madrid Noroeste)
 * Andrew Ebbet (Jeep Alcobendas Rugby)
 * Sergio Souto (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * César Bernasconi (FC Barcelona)
 * Alastair Chambers (Clifton, England)
 * Rafael Camacho (Inés Rosales)
 * Alfonso Mata (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * Oskar Astarloa (Kitmar Odizia R.E)
 * Cyril Hijar (SC Albi, France)

Backs:
 * Pablo Feijoo (Waterloo, England)
 * Igor Mirones (Getxo Artea R.T)
 * Esteban Roqué (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * Rafael Álvarez (Stade Domontois, France)
 * Andrei Kovalenco (FC Barcelona)
 * Alvar Enciso (Cetransa El Salvador)
 * Ferran Velazco (UE Santboiana)
 * Javier Canosa (C.R.C Madrid Noroeste)
 * Juan Cano (Complutense Cisneros)
 * Víctor Marlet (U.E Santboiano)
 * César Sempere (C.R.C Madrid Noroeste)