Spain have claimed the final European place at Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 after battling past a spirited Scotland side to win the second leg 15-10 in Madrid on Saturday and the two-leg play-off 25-15 on aggregate.

Las Leonas will now join defending champions England, the USA and Italy in Pool B at the showpiece from 9-26 August next year, leaving only two places in the 12-team field to be filled by the top two finishers in an Asia/Oceania qualifier featuring Fiji, hosts Hong Kong and Japan in December.

With chants of ‘España’ ringing out at the Ciudad Universitaria, it was Spain who made the better start and were rewarded when a mis-pass gave winger Amaia Erbina – one of eight sevens Olympians in the starting XV – the space to go over for the opening try in the eighth minute.

Spain continued to threaten with the sevens players forming the bulk of their backline, but it was Scotland – seeking a first test victory since April 2013 – who hit back when winger Rhona Lloyd collected a pass from captain Lisa Martin and raced clear to touch down in the 18th minute.

Both sides continued to test each other but just past the half hour the Spanish strung together another slick move, the quick passing along the backline creating space for their diminutive fly-half Patricia Garcia to go over in the right corner. 

Garcia again couldn’t add the conversion from out wide, but with Spain leading 10-5 and the crowd roaring them on, the players seemed to draw inspiration from the try and launched wave after wave of attack, keeping Scotland pinned in their own half for long periods.

Scotland’s defence, so much improved in 2016 under new coach Shade Munro, managed to hold firm and they almost fashioned a try in the dying seconds of the first half when Barbara Pla’s clearance was charged down, but Chloe Rollie’s kick-on went into touch a metre out.

With the score as it had been eight days ago at half-time, Scotland faced an uphill task in the second half to not only end their 16-test winless run but crucially get the six-point or better victory margin that would secure them a place at WRWC 2017 after missing out on the 2014 edition in France.

Agony and ecstasy

Scotland did start the second half well, forcing Spain back to their own goal-line and with the ball presented some alertness by scrum-half Sarah Law saw her reach through a gap in the bodies to ground the ball with the try awarded after consultation with the TMO. 

Hooker Lana Skeldon, like Garcia before her, couldn’t convert the try, but at 10-10 on the day and 20-15 to Spain on aggregate with 35 minutes to play it was very much game on for a place at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017. 

With Scotland’s tails up after the try, the home side began to make errors while trying to force the play against a side ranked four places below them, prompting Garcia to attempt a long-range penalty to try and steady any nerves, only to see it fall well short and roll harmlessly over the dead ball line.

Scotland continued to pile on the pressure, but a Garcia kick caused chaos in the visitors' defence as three players got in each other’s way and Las Leonas pounced, going through several phases to win a penalty, which they tapped quickly and ran for centre Marina Bravo to power over and touch down.

The crowd erupted when referee Marie Lematte awarded the try to give Spain a 15-10 lead with 15 minutes to play in Madrid and the volume levels didn’t let up whenever the home side touched the ball for the rest of the match.

Shortly afterwards play was held up for nearly 10 minutes while Skeldon received treatment and was stretchered off after being hurt attempting to make a tackle and Scotland then suffered another blow when they lost captain Martin to cramp with nine minutes remaining.

Both sides continued to push forward in search of further scores, but as chants of ‘España’ and ‘Leonas’ rang out among the vocal home crowd it was the Spanish players jumping for joy at the final whistle having sealed their place at Ireland 2017, with Scotland players left in tears at missing out on the showpiece again.

Photos: FER