Spain Women Join Men's Rugby at Rio Olympics

Spain won the World Rugby Repechage at the Dublin Sevens and qualified for the Rio Olympics. They defeated Russia 19-12 in the Cup Final and join their men’s team who did the same in Monaco last weekend.

Spain and Russia were the top two seeds entering this tournament and have participated in the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series over the last four years.

Spain’s defense was stellar in reaching the final without conceding a single point, while Russia conceded two tries by Ireland in the semi-final.The final was an excellent match between quality teams and represented the Olympic spirit.

Spain’s qualification means they will take their place alongside Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, USA, France, Japan, Fiji, Kenya, Colombia and host nation Brazil when the women’s competition at Rio gets underway at the Deodoro Stadium on August 6th.

World Rugby Head of Competitions and Performance Mark Egan added: “Congratulations to Spain on this fantastic achievement. We have seen some top sevens action over the past two days here in Dublin, which really bodes well for the future development of the women’s game but ultimately only one team could win and become the 12th team to qualify for Rio.

“Rugby’s return to the Olympics is a great opportunity and we hope it will be one of the highlights of Rio 2016 as we showcase this great sport to a new audience of hundreds of millions around the world. It’s an exciting time to be involved in rugby and I know that all our member unions are ready to make the most of this opportunity as we continue to grow the game in each of our six global regions.

“I’d like to thank all the teams for their participation in this repechage tournament and to the IRFU and its partners for putting on such a great event.”

Host nation Ireland performed well in the tournament in reaching the Cup semi-finals and emerged with a 17-5 victory over Kazakhstan in the bronze medal match. With that, they secured a place as a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series for 2016-17 as the highest ranked team behind finalists Russia and Spain.

Ireland will join defending champions Australia, New Zealand, Canada, England, France, USA, Russia, Fiji and Spain on the series next season with the final core team place to be confirmed at the Olympic Games.

POOL A Samoa 57 – 5 Zimbabwe Russia 58 – 0 Madagascar Samoa 22 – 10 Madagascar Russia 59 – 0 Zimbabwe Zimbabwe 17 – 19 Madagascar Russia 47 – 0 Samoa

POOL B Mexico 5 – 5 Venezuela Spain 38 – 0 Tunisia Mexico 0 – 22 Tunisia Spain 45 – 0 Venezuela Venezuela 10 – 17 Tunisia Spain 38 – 0 Mexico

POOL C China 24 – 5 Portugal Ireland 51 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago China 34 – 5 Trinidad & Tobago Ireland 24 – 12 Portugal Portugal 42 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago Ireland 12 – 0 China

POOL D Argentina 5 – 36 Kazakhstan Hong Kong 12 – 12 Cook Islands Argentina 17 – 12 Cook Islands Hong Kong 12 – 21 Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 12 – 5 Cook Islands Hong Kong 15 – 17 Argentina

Trophy Quarter Finals Madagascar 0 – 7 Cook Islands Portugal 29 – 0 Mexico Hong Kong 20 – 0 Zimbabwe Venezuela 17 – 0 Trinidad & Tobago

Cup Quarter Finals Russia 34 – 0 Argentina Ireland 38 – 0 Tunisia Kazahkstan 26 – 0 Samoa Spain 21 – 0 China

13th Place Semi-Finals Madagascar 10 – 0 Mexico Zimbabwe 12 – 5 Trinidad & Tobago

Trophy Sem-Finals Cook Islands 24 – 14 Portugal Hong Kong 24 – 5 Venezuela

5th Place Semi-Finals Argentina 17 – 7 Tunisia Samoa 5 – 28 China

Cup Semi-Finals Russia 19 – 10 Ireland Kazahkstan 0 – 28 Spain

DJCoil rugby Preview Article: Women’s Rugby Olympic Repechage in Dublin June 25-26