World Rugby U20 Trophy: Hong Kong start with 53-0 loss as Spain run in 9 tries in Nairobi
- Eloy de la Pisa Cuadrado and Gabriel Rocaries touch down twice each, but Spain could have scored several more and Hong Kong, too, butcher opportunities
- Victories for Scotland, Samoa and Uruguay in the opening day’s other fixtures
Spain ran in nine tries in a 53-0 hammering of Hong Kong on the opening day of the World Rugby U20 Trophy in Kenya on Saturday.
Eloy de la Pisa Cuadrado and Gabriel Rocaries both scored twice for Los Leones, who should have scored several more during the one-sided Pool B encounter at Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi.
Hong Kong might have scored twice themselves, but butchered simple opportunities in each half that should have been taken.
It took Spain just seven minutes to score their first, with flanker Ignacio Pineiro Molla touching down after Hong Kong failed to gather a kick ahead.
In an error-strewn opening both sides struggled with their set-pieces, although Spain finally got their act together in the 15th minute with a rolling maul from a line-out leading to captain Alvaro Garcia Albo getting his side’s second.
A similar opportunity went begging shortly afterwards as Spain knocked on, but the inevitable third came following a dominant scrum that left Hong Kong back-peddling, and open-side flanker Borja Ibanez Escalera crashed over two phases later.
