Spain v Tonga

[Higgins]

15th (Spain) v 16th (Tonga) on the IRD Rankings face off at 0630hrs in Malaga on Sunday Morning our time.
Interesting looking 'Ikale Tahi side named with plenty of names known to NZ followers if the sport, not so much on the other side of the field where probably only @stargazer might recognise a name or two.
Spain

1. Thierry Feuteu (Cameroon)
2. Vincent Del Hoyo
3. John Zabala
4. Manu Mora
5. Victor Sanchez
6. Matthew Foulds (England)
7. Facundo Dominguez (Argentina)
8. Afa Tauli (Samoa)
9. Kerman Aurrekoetxea
10. Gonzalo Vinuesa
11. Jordi Jorba
12. Gonzalo Lopez Bontempo (Argentina/Italy)
13. Inaki Mateu (Argentina)
14. Guillermo Dominguez
15. John-Wessel Bell (Sth Africa)
16. Santiago Ovejero (Argentina)
17. Raul Calzon
18. Bittor Aboitiz
19. Alex Suarez
20. Brice Ferrer (France)
21. Nico Rocaries
22. Bautista Guemes (Argentina)
23. Julien Goia
    Looks to be a major job keeping track of eligibility of players up there, not surprising they got turfed out of the World Cup for eligibility violations!

Los Leones have had some surprisingly good results lately with only the flogging received from Georgia blotting their record.

https://www.espn.com/rugby/match?gameId=401499574&league=289234

Tonga's results have been patchy at best but they mostly play without the players they would have available to them come World Cup time

Rugby Fixtures and Results - ESPN

Get the latest Rugby fixtures and results from ESPN.

The last time (and the only other time) the two sides met was back in 2016 in Madrid where the visitors tonked them 28-13. As an aside not a single Tongan player from that game remains in their squad.

I'm having a slow day today!

[Nepia]

That's a good midfield and decent loosies trio. And nice to see Ben T as captain.

[Stargazer]

@Higgins Quite a few players in that Tongan squad that are using the new eligibility rules to change countries again! No Charles Piutau or I. Folau though!

[Nepia]

@Stargazer said in Spain v Tonga:

@Higgins Quite a few players in that Tongan squad that are using the new eligibility rules to change countries again! No Charles Piutau or I. Folau though!

Money and God keeping them away respectively?

[Stargazer]

@Nepia

[Stargazer]

Twitter updates (in Spanish) of the Spain v Tonga game in this twitter thread from the Spanish rugby federation:

[Stargazer]

Tonga beat Spain 40 - 6.

Solomone Funaki (2), Sam Moli, William Havili, Leva Fifita tries; William Havili (3) con; William Havili (2), , Otumaka Mausia pens.

Gonzalo Vinuesa scored two penalties for Spain in the first half.

[Higgins]

Spanish commentary and somewhat limited numbers of cameras and close up shots but looks like the only option to if you want to view the match

[Stargazer]

@Higgins Yeah, I watched the game live. Quality of the stream was HD and really good, but not many camera angles and no TMO. Good game to watch.