Georgia undresses the transition of Spanish rugby

Pablo Miejimolle carries the ball behind the strikers' platform, that

that he longs to erase the five meters that separate Spain from the trial.

But what is in front is a wall.

Pablo does not give up, he holds the ball waiting for a crack to appear, but Facundo Monilla accepts defeat and distributes the oval to other places.

Unlucky.

Georgia, the great European power behind the Six Nations, exposed the shortcomings of the

, in transition after the drama of their World Cup disqualification, with a beating in Torrelavega (3-41).

The improper alignment of Gavin Van den Berg – the South African who falsified his passport to hide that he extended his stay outside of Spain to be eligible – accelerated the farewell of the generation that had achieved the first qualification for a World Cup in 24 years on the pitch.

After the resignation of Alfonso Feijoo as president, Juan Carlos Martín

won the elections and ensured that Santi Santos, the coach of the last two World Cup cycles, would not lead the new stage, but he will continue to lead the team in this edition of the Rugby Championship, the second echelon of European rugby, which debuts a format with eight teams – instead of six – divided into two groups of four.

The best two meet in the semifinals and the tournament will close on March 19 in Badajoz with the final and the fight for third place.

Spain did not convince in its first two victories.

They beat a lower team like the Netherlands by a narrow margin (28-20) in a match in which they did not know how to transform their territorial dominance into trials.

And they beat a rival in Germany (14-32) who at times surpassed the Spanish.

The defeat against Georgia leaves them second in the group and they will play the semifinal at the home of the winner of Portugal-Romania on Sunday.

Georgia, winner of nine editions of the Rugby Championship in the last decade, is the great challenge for Spain, which bordered on the feat in 2021 with a pyrrhic defeat (19-25) in Madrid.

It was one of the best matches of that generation, which has given way to a squad with half the players under 25 years of age, eight of them born this century.

The

, who won Wales and Italy last year and are asking for a seat in the Six Nations, are a veteran team that exchanged the Spanish inexperience from their first attack.

Fly-half Tedo Abzhandadze controlled the game like clockwork and found the back of Alberto Carmona, one of the new faces, with a perfect kick that was bagged by opposing wing Akaki Tabutsadze to score the first try just three minutes into the game.

The next Georgian sequence had the same outcome on the same flank.

The great Georgian fortress is in their lead, so Spain's response was to avoid skirmishes and shoot sticks whenever the opportunity arose.

Gonzalo Vinuesa tried his luck with three kicks from almost midfield in the initial stretch;

he only converted one.

That option, valid with narrow scores, disappeared from the menu as Georgia widened the score.

That

that denied the Spanish essay, achieved his.

And Abzhandadze took advantage of the open break in the Spanish line after a mistaken tackle to try under the sticks and leave the contest resolved at halftime (3-22).

The new stage of Spanish rugby is committed to playing fewer games in Madrid and selling the sport in other destinations.

Torrelavega, looking good on the sides, provided the opportunity to honor the captain, Manu Mora from Cantabria.

El Nuevo Vivero de Badajoz, with 15,000 spectators, was chosen for this first Rugby Championship final due to its proximity to Portugal: two hobbies for the price of one.

The paradox of Spanish rugby is that it occupies 16th place in the world ranking without a ticket to the World Cup, which is contested by 20 teams, including Romania and Portugal, behind the

.

Among the many aspects that prevented Spain from competing with Georgia is their indiscipline: too many punishment blows against an opponent who does not give meters away.

Santos wants to move the focus away from his non-continuity and values ​​the work of the quarry.

"The level of the Spanish team is going to be beastly," he promises.

It was not against Georgia, which extended its tally to seven trials and did not allow Spain to conquer its goal area even in the last action, which it defended with two fewer players for two final yellow cards.

The final score was not a bad dream, even though Antonio Resines was in the stands.

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