Spain too good for Czechs

Spain beat the Czech Republic 42-15 in Prague on Saturday.  The result may well mean that the Czechs, beaten in all their matches so far, are in danger of relegation from the European Nations Cup Division 1 when the competition ends next season.

Spain on the other hand, promoted at the start of the season from Division 2A, have now won two matches in the first round which may well secure their place.  Their other victory was over high-riding Georgia.

By half-time Spain led 24-10, thanks to two tries each by fullback César Sempere and scrumhalf Pablo Feijóo to which flyhalf Esteban Roqué added two conversions.

The Czechs fought back in the second half but the Spanish defence withstood the initial onslaught, except for a try by scrumhalf Pavel Syrový, and then set their backs on the attack for two more tries, one by Roqué, the other just before the final whistle by replacement forward David Hernández.

Scorers:

For Spain:
Tries:  Sempere 2, Feijóo 2, Roqué, Hernández
Cons:  Roqué 3
Pen:  Roqué

For Czech Republic:
Tries:  Krejcí, Syrový
Pen:  Vokrouhlik

Teams:

Czech Republic:  15 Tomas Nevický, 14 Václav Jursík, 13 Jan Rohlík, 12 Pavel Vokrouhlík, 11 Michal Schlanger, 10 Tomás Krejcí, 9 Pavel Syrový, 8 Jan Zíla, 7 Ladislav Vondrásek, 6 Karel Kucera, 5 Jan Machácek, 4 Robert Voves, 3 Pavel Indrák, 2 Jan Oswald, 1 Roman Suster.
Replacements:  16 Patrik Leroch, 17 Jirí Skal, 18 Jan Benda, 19 Jirí Buryánek, 20 Vítezslav Dosedla, 21 Jaroslav Tomcík, 22 Antonín Brabec

Spain:  15 César Sempere, 14 Víctor Marlet, 13 David Mota, 12 Javier Canosa, 11 Rafael Álvarez, 10 Esteban Roque, 9 Pablo Feijoo, 8 Iván Criado, 7 Juan González, 6 Alfonso Mata, 5 Sergio Souto, 4 Guillermo Bárcena, 3 Javier Salazar, 2 José Maria Bohórquez, 1 Ion Insausti.
Replacements:  16 Óscar Ferreras, 17 Diego Zarzosa, 18 Martin Aceña, 19 David Hernández, 20 Carlos Arenas, 21 Manuel Olivares, 22 Juan Cano

Referee:  Neil Patersen (Scotland)
Touch judges:  John Steele (Scotland), Peter Carruthers (Scotland)