Scotland & Spain duel for World Cup spot

Since the World Cup was reduced from 16 to 12 teams after 2002 it has been inevitable that at least one of Europe’s world-class teams would miss out. Italy have not made the finals since 2002, and in addition Wales missed out in 2006, Spain in 2010 and Scotland in 2014.

This time around Wales and Italy have qualified, so now it is down to Spain and Scotland to decide who will travel to Ireland next summer, and who will stay at home.

In addition, the qualification process is unique. For 2006 qualification was largely based on the Six Nations, and in 2010 and 2014 on multiple-team tournaments. Never before has qualification come down to a one-on-one nose-to-nose winner-takes-all battle like this (albeit over two legs).

Spain start as favourites and the World Rankings certainly lean their way. Spain are four places and nearly 11 ranking points above Scotland - a ranking gap that almost exactly matches that which separated Ireland and New Zealand before they met in the World Cup in 2014.

Spain also come into the games fresh from a series of big wins in the European Championship, including an impressive 35-7 over the Netherlands, who are just one place and a point below the Scots.

2016 has so far been a remarkable year for the Spanish, with Olympic sevens qualification against the odds and then a quarter-final place in the Games themselves. Sevens performance does not read over to fifteens, but confidence and public support can – and rugby, and perhaps especially women’s rugby, has never been on such a high in Spain as it is today.

One of the architects of this has been Spanish coach Jose Antonio Barrio – aka “Yunque” [“anvil”]. Speaking toLaLiga4Sportshe looked back on the European final against the Netherlands with great enthusiasm. "The best thing, besides the result, was to find the ground full with many children supporting the Leonas. It was a phenomenal icing on the European Championship cake, this great support."

With the European title in his pocket, Barrio looks ahead to Scotland. "The team is fine. My situation is difficult because we are expected to do well. Scotland is a tough opponent from the Six Nations. But if we play well we will be close to the World Cup.”

"Scotland are preparing well and sent four people to watch us in the European Championship. Their warm up has been against Wales, not Netherlands - we have not had such a difficult test. The Scots are used to strong competition. But with the quality and speed with which we were playing, we have a good chance."

However Scotland captain Lisa Martin is confident that her team are ready: “We are getting a lot more competitive, and we’re focusing on our processes and the things that we can control,” she toldThe Herald. “We had the best lineout in the Six Nations and that comes from the execution and the time the forwards and coaches have put in.

“It’s about progress now. We have to kick on and build the momentum from the Six Nations. We held France out for 38 minutes in the first half, and we totally negated their lineout which is their biggest weapon, and we took huge pride in that.

“It is about taking those 38, 42 minutes and turning it into a full performance, and we started that against Wales a few weeks ago. We have to gain momentum early in the match.”

Scotland also beat Spain the last time the teams met, also in a friendly a year ago. However, that Spanish side was without its players who were members of the Olympics Sevens squad, so Martin is wary of reading too much into that result.

“We can take some things from it, and the confidence of saying we did beat Spain, but both teams are different. We have to push on from there.”

Coach Shade Munro agrees: ““I went over to watch Spain in the Rugby Europe championship final,” he sas. “They beat Holland 35-7 and were pretty good - they were played great rugby, were very competitive, fit and well organised. But then a lot of the players in the Spanish team were involved in the Olympic Sevens - there were 20 of them who were preparing for the Olympics that have now come back into the squad, and they didn’t play against us when we beat Spain in a friendly a year ago. So this is a very different team from the one we played.”

He has been in the job for barely a year, and fully understands how important the game is. “We’ve not qualified for a World Cup since 2010, so it would be huge to do so. To grow the game in Scotland, the national team needs to be doing well but it has not been doing well. Scotland have not won a competitive game for five years now, so it would be huge if we could get to the World Cup and raise the profile; it would help develop the game hugely. It’s all about a top-down approach at the moment. We’ve got to be seen at the top level to be doing well. It’s my job to make sure that happens.”

“This year we’ve had more camps and more preparation,” he continues. “The players need more competition, so we’ve had a friendly against Lichfield, a top-four English team. We played against Wales in the Six Nations then again recently in a friendly, and it’s quite noticeable how much we’ve improved. Certainly the defence has improved, as have the fitness levels and the skill level. They’re definitely improving.”

“Spain have more players, they have more clubs, and apparently they have the same funding as the men,” said Munro. “I went to a competition in Madrid and a huge crowd turned up, so it’s well supported as well. The game seems to have grown in other countries more than it has done in Scotland, but we’re definitely improving.”

Scotland v Spain, Scotstoun, Glasgow (7.30pm)

Scotland:

15. Chloe Rollie* (Murrayfield Wanderers) – 10 caps;

14. Megan Gaffney (Edinburgh University) – 18 caps;

13. Lisa Thomson* (Edinburgh University) – 5 caps;

12. Lisa Martin* CAPTAIN (Murrayfield Wanderers) – 30 caps;

11. Rhona Lloyd* (Edinburgh University) – 5 caps;

10. Helen Nelson* (Murrayfield Wanderers) – 2 caps;

9. Sarah Law* (Murrayfield Wanderers/Edinburgh University) – 22 caps

1. Heather Lockhart (Hillhead Jordanhill) – 82 caps;

2.  Lana Skeldon (HillHead Jordanhill) –15 caps;

3.  Tracey Balmer (Worcester) – 36 caps;

4. Emma Wassell* (Murrayfield Wanderers) – 16 caps;

5. Deborah McCormack (Aylesford Bulls) – 16 caps;

6. Jemma Forsyth (Hillhead Jordanhill) – 15 caps;

7. Louise McMillan* (Hillhead Jordanhill) - uncapped;

8. Karen Dunbar* (RHC Cougars) – 14 caps

Replacements:

16. Lucy Park* (Murrayfield Wanderers) – uncapped;

17. Lindsey Smith (Hillhead Jordanhill) – 30 caps;

18. Katie Dougan (Edinburgh University) – 2 caps;

19. Sarah Bonar (Lichfield) – uncapped;

20. Rachel Malcolm (Lichfield) – uncapped;

21. Lyndsay O’Donnell (Worcester) – 10 caps;

22. Jenny Maxwell (Lichfield) – 8 caps;

23. Eilidh Sinclair* (Murrayfield Wanderers) – 11 caps

Previous matches: Played 17, Scotland 12, Spain 5

04/04/1997 Scotland 11-10 Spain, Nice (FIRA)05/12/1998 Spain 3-5 Scotland (Friendly)21/04/1999 Spain 11-9 Scotland, Belluno (FIRA)18/02/2000 Spain 13-9 Scotland, Murcia (5 Nations)10/05/2000 Spain 13-10 Scotland, Almeria (FIRA)18/03/2001 Scotland 19-8 Spain, Melrose (5 Nations)12/05/2001 Spain 3-15 Scotland, Lille (FIRA)16/02/2002 Spain 14-17 Scotland, Barcelona (6 Nations)21/05/2002 Spain 16-23 Scotland, Barcelona (World Cup)29/03/2003 Scotland 48-7 Spain, Meadowbank (6 Nations)06/03/2004 Spain 6-5 Scotland, Corunna (6 Nations)26/02/2005 Scotland 19-3 Spain, Glasgow (6 Nations)18/03/2006 Spain 12-16 Scotland, Madrid (6 Nations)31/08/2006 Spain 0-24 Scotland, St. Albert (World Cup)24/05/2008 Scotland 27-25 Spain, Amsterdam (FIRA)03/01/2011 Spain 28-13 Scotland, Madrid (Friendly)22/11/2015 Spain 10-34 Scotland, Valladolid (Friendly)