Planet Rugby: Spain meets Czechs in qualifier

On Saturday Spain travel to Prague for the first leg of their Round 4 European qualifier for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.


The second leg will be played in Madrid on 30 September.

Spain, who went to the 1999 World Cup after qualifying through the répechage, will not be travelling in great hope after their recent defeat at the hands of Belgium.

Last season the Czechs played in the European Nations Cup ("Six nations B) while Spain were in a division below that but the Spanish Lions have won back promotion at the expense of Ukraine.

Spain's English coach Ged Glynn has stayed loyal to his squad of players though Javier Salazar is back in after his trip to New Zealand and includes young three-quarters - Juan Cano and Rafael the Alvarez, who made their debuts in Belgium. Glynn gathered his squad of 23 players at Ciudad del Fútbol de Las Rozas, prior to departure for Prague on 14 September.

The Spainish squad: Rafael Camacho (Inés Rosales), César Caballero, Alvar Enciso, Ion Insausti, Alfonso Mata, Esteban Roque, Sergio Souto (El Salvador), César Bernasconi, Andrei Kovalenko (Barcelona), Andrew Ebbet (Alcobendas), Juan Cano (Cisneros), Javier Canosa, David Mota, Javier Salazar, César Sempere, Diego Zarzosa (Madrid Noroeste), Pablo Feijoo (Bera Bera), Igor Mirones (Getxo), Óscar Astarloa (Ordizia), Mathieu Cidre (Graulhet, France), Cyril Hijar (Sporting Club Albigeois, France), Guillermo Barcena (Stade Français, France), Rafael Alvarez (Stade Domontis, France)

The Czech Republic squad: Jan Oswald (Tatra Smíchov) , Jirí Sluka, Jan Rudolf (Petrovice ), Pavel Indrák (Pwlhelli, Wales), Roman Šuster (Limoges, France), Pavel Štastný (Lannemezan, France), Jirí Skall, Pavel Vokrouhlík, Václav Jursík, Jan Machácek (Sparta Praha ), Robert Voves (Limoges, France), Jirí Buryánek, Vítezslav Dosedla (Dragon Brno ), Miroslav Nemecek, Martin Kafka, Martin Pekárek (Rícany ), Ladislav Vondrášek (Esher, England), Vlastimil Madry (Praga ), Patrik Leroch, Jaroslav Tomcík (Havírov )
Martin Hudák, Lubomír Orel, Martin Snídal (Vyškov ), Jan Rohlík (St. Nazaire, France) , Martin Jágr (Toulon, France), Tomáš Krejcí (Saint Saturnin, France)

Referee: Andrew Small (England)
Touch judges: Rowan Kitt, Andrew Pearce (both England)

planetrugby.com