Australia vs Spain
@ University of Madrid on Thurs 1st November 2001

It's hard to get too excited about the Wallabies' upcoming match against Spain in Madrid. After all, we are talking about a country where rugby has next to no identity - think squash in Australia. Yes, people play it. In fact, you probably know someone who plays squash. Hell, you may have even played it yourself a few times - but could you name Australia's top squash players? Could you name the current men's and women's world squash champions? Would you be inclined to spend your hard-earned actually attending a squash competition? Would you change the channel if it was on the TV? Well - that's about how much the good people of Spain care about rugby. Which is to say, bugger all.

And when a sport isn't popular, like rugby in Spain, little kids don't grow up wanting to play for their country in the Rugby World Cup. No, they want to be like Gerard Lopez and play for F.C. Barcelona or Real Madrid. They want to play in that other World Cup. And if the popular athletes like Gerard Lopez don't want to play rugby, then people don't want to support rugby. And if people don't support rugby, then sponsors aren't attracted to rugby. And if sponsorship money isn't available to fund rugby, rugby can't pay the big salaries to attract the best athletes, to promote the sport more widely, and to develop the sport at the good ol' grassroots level. So basically, rugby in Spain is up the proverbial. Which is why Spain is often referred to as a rugby "minnow", and a "development nation" where rugby needs to be "nurtured", and other such euphemisms for "crapola".

So how, exactly, do you get around these seemingly insurmountable problems? How do you develop a game in a relatively hostile sporting environment? Why, you arrange a match with the undisputed World Champions, that's what you do! And you promote the hell out of it. And you hope to God that your team of minnows manages to get its act together sufficiently to, at the very least, put on a decent show.

A victory? Clearly out of the question. We are talking about a team whose only recent opposition of note has been Romania, itself a rugby minnow, to whom it lost 25-6 and 27-12 in the past eighteen months. At 1999's Rugby World Cup, it lost 47-3 to South African and 48-0 to Scotland, and that was considered a pretty fair effort.

So what can we hope for this upcoming encounter, which promises to be nothing more than an exhibition match? Not much. Probably.

We, like the Federacion Espanola de Rugby, can hope that the young men of the Spanish rugby union team put up a reasonable fight and maybe throw the ball around a bit. It would be good for rugby in Spain. And, as this is our only test match prior to playing England at Twickenham, it would definitely be good for the Wallabies.

- Dan Fowell