The Six Nations Rugby tournament may have kicked off today, and for those of a fifteen-man sport bent now residing in Mallorca, the bars will have been full for England and Wales. But there is other rugby in Mallorca, not least in Alcúdia which boasts its own team – Corsaris. Today saw the visit of Menorca in a match as part of the small Balearic league.
Rugby is not a major sport in Spain, but it has its place and the sport is growing in popularity. The national side is one that hovers on the periphery of the international game, trying and failing to make the World Cup finals and get a sound thrashing at the hands of the major sides – Portugal did make the last finals and there was concern that New Zealand would not only stuff them but put one or two players into hospital. In the end, no one suffered more than a loss of pride at the scoreline.
Local rugby is not the preserve of the expat, it is not an excuse for overweight British hoorays to wheeze and pant around a field in some embarrassing veterans game and then get bladdered afterwards. It is altogether more serious than that, and it is played by a mix of Mallorcans, Spaniards, Italians, south Americans and, yes, British. And they take it seriously. The standard on display today in the game between Alcúdia and Menorca was not high, but individually there are some good players, and the tackling was keen – all credit to them on a bone-hard pitch. The seven-team league has been running for some five years, and the developments, especially on the playing side, are already there to be seen. Alcúdia were thumped by Menorca last time around. Today it was a respectable loss by 22 to 3, Menorca a smaller but quicker side scoring four tries with one conversion to a penalty for Alcúdia. Menorca’s stand-out player was Martín the scrum-half who wouldn’t disgrace good junior club rugby in the UK. And I suppose I should also mention the Menorca number 8, Jake Boas, he of the El Laberinto maze. Well, he did make one good break!
QUIZ
Yesterday – The Seekers. Today’s title – a line that continues “are outside the lines”; brilliant gospel-influenced R&B song of recent vintage.
Rugby is not a major sport in Spain, but it has its place and the sport is growing in popularity. The national side is one that hovers on the periphery of the international game, trying and failing to make the World Cup finals and get a sound thrashing at the hands of the major sides – Portugal did make the last finals and there was concern that New Zealand would not only stuff them but put one or two players into hospital. In the end, no one suffered more than a loss of pride at the scoreline.
Local rugby is not the preserve of the expat, it is not an excuse for overweight British hoorays to wheeze and pant around a field in some embarrassing veterans game and then get bladdered afterwards. It is altogether more serious than that, and it is played by a mix of Mallorcans, Spaniards, Italians, south Americans and, yes, British. And they take it seriously. The standard on display today in the game between Alcúdia and Menorca was not high, but individually there are some good players, and the tackling was keen – all credit to them on a bone-hard pitch. The seven-team league has been running for some five years, and the developments, especially on the playing side, are already there to be seen. Alcúdia were thumped by Menorca last time around. Today it was a respectable loss by 22 to 3, Menorca a smaller but quicker side scoring four tries with one conversion to a penalty for Alcúdia. Menorca’s stand-out player was Martín the scrum-half who wouldn’t disgrace good junior club rugby in the UK. And I suppose I should also mention the Menorca number 8, Jake Boas, he of the El Laberinto maze. Well, he did make one good break!
QUIZ
Yesterday – The Seekers. Today’s title – a line that continues “are outside the lines”; brilliant gospel-influenced R&B song of recent vintage.
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