Marbella’s Pablo Mijimole, Ike Ersta and Joshua Peters have been selected to be part of the new era of the Spanish XV rugby team. The Spanish team has focused on preparing for the clash against the Netherlands, which will take place next Sunday, February 5. In a call full of novelties, the three Marbels begin to be trusted by coach Santi Santos.
Pablo Miejimolle, Ike Irusta and Joshua Peters are part of a 34-player squad that has assembled in preparation for the first game of the Rugby Europe Championship which begins at 12:45am on Sunday 5 February with the match between Spain and the Netherlands. Afternoon in the central area of Complutense University.
The Spanish national team will be one of those to introduce the new format which has expanded the participating teams from six to eight. Germany, Belgium and Poland entered a tournament in which the Russian team was not present due to the war between their country and Ukraine. The rec will be resolved annually, through a group with a European champion and a semi-final and final playoff.
The eight teams are divided into two groups and each will play three games against their group rivals as a league. The classification resulting from these conflicts would provide for two semi-finals between the first two of each group and a subsequent final with the winners of the same.
The route to Spain is a group made up of the aforementioned Netherlands (this Sunday, February 5th), Germany (February 12th at 2:30PM) and Georgia (Saturday the 18th), which alone have to travel outside our borders against the German team.
From there, Spain will play one of two semi-finals on March 4 or 5 if it finishes in the first two classifieds and from there jump to March 18 if it plays the consolation final or March 19 to the grand final. However, teams that have not qualified for these playoffs or finals will also play two games this month to define the third to eighth places.
Before all that happens, this Sunday, February 5, the duel against the Netherlands is an opportunity for the 34 Lions of Santi Santos to fill the gas tank through the support of the fans.
