History was made in Nuku’alofa, Tonga on Friday. Spain completed an historic win over Tonga and did so on the road. It was against a team containing former Rugby World Cup All Blacks and Wallabies. The 29-20 victory ranks among Spain’s greatest ever accomplishments on a rugby field.
Coached by former Puma Pablo Bouza, Los Leones have an ambition: Rugby World Cup 2027. Defeating Tonga demonstrates that it is attainable. Tonga have played at all but one Rugby World Cup. Spain have only played in one tournament thus far.
| TONGA VS SPAIN – MATCH REPORT |
Los Leones shook-up the rugby hierarchy on Friday. Spain defeated Tonga 29-20 at Teufaiva Stadium in Nuku’alofa. The win was heavily influenced by the halves combination of Tani Bay and Gonzalo Vinuesa.
Spain had to contend with the early loss of their captain; Mario Pinchardi left very early on in proceedings. Los Leones swiftly recovered from the early blow to go 6-0 ahead. However, the first try went to the Tongan Sea Eagles with hooker Sosefo Sakalia scoring on 19 minutes.
The Europeans responded through Estanislao Bay (Tani Bay). The scrum-half from Argentina darted over for a try after Spain had been attacking with phases deep in Tongan territory. Vinuesa converted and added a penalty seven minutes later for a 16-5 lead.
Tongan came out firing in the second-half. While intent was in strong supply, discipline was lacking. Former Wallaby Adam Coleman was yellow carded for a high shot was followed by Tongan cutting the deficit to three points as New Zealander James Faiva scored.
The 55th minute score poised the contest. Center Alvar Gimeno scored a breakaway try with 16 minute remaining. Vinuesa converted and added two penalties. The historic win was secured; Spain led 29-13 with a little over two minutes remaining.
Kelemete Finau scored a consolation try for Tonga. The final score of 29-20 will go down as a monumental upset. Bouza’s Spain got the job done despite playing without front-line French-based players Jon Zabala, Joel Merkler, Kerman Aurrekoetxea and Martín Alonso.
| TONGA VS SPAIN – MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
| LINE-UPS |
TONGA
1 Tau Koloamatangi, 2 Sosefo Sakalia, 3 Ben Tameifuna (capt.), 4 Adam Coleman, 5 Harison Mataele, 6 Siosua Kaifa, 7 Fotu Lokotui, 8 Lotu Inisi, 9 Manu Paea, 10 James Faiva, 11 Hosea Saumaki, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 13 Fetuli Paea, 14 John Tapueluelu, 15 Telusa Veainu
Replacements: 16 Solomone Aniseko, 17 Jethro Felemi, 18 Brandon Televave, 19 Kelemete Finau, 20 Sione Takai, 21 Aisea Halo, 22 Tyler Pulini, 23 Nikolai Foliaki
SPAIN
1 Thierry Futeu, 2 Santi Ovejero, 3 Hugo Pirlet, 4 Asier Usárraga, 5 Imanol Urraza, 6 Mario Pichardie (capt.), 7 Marc Sánchez, 8 Raphael Nieto, 9 Estanislao Bay, 10 Gonzalo Vinuesa, 11 Gauthier Minguillon, 12 Alvar Gimeno, 13 Alex Alonso, 14 Manuel Alfaro, 15 John-Wessel Bell
Replacements: 16 Álvaro García, 17 Raúl Calzón, 18 Lucas Santamaría, 19 Ignacio Piñero, 20 Alex Saleta, 21 Pablo Pérez, 22 Bauti Guemes, 23 Iñaki Mateu
| SCORING |
TONGA (20)
Try – S Sakalia (19′); J Faiva (55); K Finau (80)
Con – T Pulini (80′)
Pen – J Faiva (47′)
SPAIN (29)
Try – E Bay (29′); A Gimeno (64′)
Con – G Vinuesa 2 (30′, 65′)
Pen – G Vinuesa 5 (5′, 12′, 37′, 75′, 77′)
| SPAIN’S MOUNT RUSHMORE |
Spain’s win over Tonga is among the greatest achievements by Los Leones. It certainly is in the discussion for a place on the Mount Rushmore of Spain’s wins. In order to do so it would need to merit a spot among Spain’s four greatest wins of all-time.
Spain’s pathway to Rugby World Cup 1999 features wins over Andorra, Germany, Czechia and two over Portugal. A was could be made for one of these. However, the 1992 win over Romania was against an Oaks team at the top of their game; Romania were truly in their prime.
Three other Spanish wins over note are the 2012 home win over Georgia, the 2019 away win over Uruguay and the 2022 win over Portugal which saw Spain qualifying for the World Cup.
ARN determines Spain’s Mount Rushmore as:
- 1992 – Spain 6-0 Romania (Madrid, ES)
- 2012 – Spain 25-18 Georgia (Madrid, ES)
- 2019 – Uruguay 21-41 Spain (Montevideo, UY)
- 2024 – Tonga 20-29 Spain (Nukualofa, TO)
| SPAIN’S ARGENTINE LEGION |
Scrum-half Estanislao Bay was part of Spain’s Argentine legion. Argentines Manuel Alfaro and Vicente Boronet made their debuts for Spain on the tour. Alfaro did so playing out of position on the wing against Tonga.
Bouza’s roster features additional players from Argentina. They are of two varieties: players who were primarily produced by Argentina (homegrown in Argentina) and players who moved to Spain very young and are products of Spanish rugby.
Santiago Ovejero, Estanislao Bay, Bautista Guemes, Manuel Alfaro, Bernardo Vazquez and Vicente Boronat were born and raised in Argentina. Imanol Urraza, Iñaki Mateu, Facundo López were born in Argentina but raised in Spain. The roster is a reflection of the likelihood that Spain’s potential roster for Rugby World Cup qualifying and beyond will contains Argentines.
| TONGA’S GIGANTIC ELIGIBILITY GAINS |
Spain’s win marks a first win in Oceania for Los Leones. Of note is that this was supposed to be a match at Rugby World Cup 2023. Spain qualified to compete against Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Tonga. Disqualification saw Romania replacing Spain.
Spain was disqualified because Gavin van den Berg was not eligible. The South African prop lied to España Rugby and to World Rugby. He escaped any punishment and moved to Portugal to continue his professional career.
Spain missing from France 2023 exposed World Rugby’s controversial handling of player eligibility. World Rugby’ eligibility changes let Tonga face Romania with Wallabies, All Blacks and New Zealand 7’s players; indeed, George Moala, Pita Ahki, Afusipa Taumoepeau, Charles Piutau, and Adam Coleman all faced Romania.
The Tongan team that lost to Spain featured no shortage of players who are not homegrown. Captain Ben Tameifuna is from New Zealand. Starting players such as Harison Mataele, Manu Paea, James Faiva, and Telusa Veainu are also New Zealanders.
Front-rower Tau Koloamatangi is a former Hong Kong player. Adam Coleman played for his native Australia in Japan at Rugby World Cup 2019 and Malakai Fekitoa faced he British & Irish Lions playing for New Zealand in 2017 as well as being a part of the Rugby World Cup 2015 champions.
Tonga were gigantic winners of the eligibility law changes. Tonga’s roster at Rugby World Cup 2023 was 29.7% homegrown. Former Wallaby Adam Coleman, former All Blacks George Moala, Charles Piutau and Augustine Pulu and New Zealand 7’s player Pita Ahki did not return to Tonga because of eligibility law changes. They were not born in Tonga nor raised in the county.
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