Indisciplined England A escape Spain with a narrow victory

England A escaped with a 29–25 win over Spain in Valladolid after a chaotic final quarter that saw Mark Mapletoft’s side overturn a nine-point deficit and survive a late surge from the hosts.

With eight changes from the team beaten by an All Blacks XV, England A fielded a raw, largely uncapped group, and it showed in a stop-start first half riddled with indiscipline.

Indeed, it was an ill-disciplined and at times bad-tempered affair, with four yellow cards shared between the sides.

Spain started well. Fly-half Lucien Richardis punished every English slip, landing penalties on 11, 24 and 40 minutes to give the hosts an early foothold.

Indeed, England A were forced to play much of the opening period with 13 men after yellow cards for hooker Nathan Jibulu and blindside Nathan Michelow, who were both binned for separate incidents before eleven minutes of game time had passed.

Spain appeared to have opened the scoring on 14 minutes via Samuel Ezeala, only for referee Morgan White to scrub it off for an infringement in the build-up.

The Spanish then had their own moment of madness when on 20 minutes Martiniano Cian was sin-binned for a high shot on England A No.8 Greg Fisilau.

Despite their discipline issues, England did fashion the game’s first try. Saracens flyer Noah Caluori crossed from close range on 33 minutes after sustained pressure, with Josh Hodge converting for a 7–6 lead.

Spain snatched it back and extended their lead in short order through two more Richardis penalties, sending the hosts into halftime 12–7 ahead.

Spain struck first after the restart with the best sequence of the match. A clean break from Martiniano Cian and quick hands across the line released Ezeala to score on 45 minutes, with Richardis converting for a 19–7 advantage.

England A appeared to strike back following a searing break from Caluori that was finished off by George Hendy, only for the try to be ruled out due to a knock-on in the build-up.

The visitors’ response finally arrived on 53 minutes when Hodge kicked a penalty, before Fisilau dotted the ball down from short range just after the hour, following a sharp line break from Hendy, narrowing Spain’s lead to 22-15. Hodge missed the conversion.

Richardis pushed the margin out to 25-15 with another penalty on 62 minutes, to give Spain some momentary breathing space.

The visitors emptied their bench and eventually broke through Spain’s resistance once John Wessel Bell was shown a yellow card for the hosts. Replacement hooker Kepu Tuipulotu forced his way over from a rolling maul on 74 minutes, narrowing the gap again, although Hodge again couldn’t convert.

England A then produced the decisive surge. A spell of pressure on 77 minutes ended with a superb piece of vision from Charlie Atkinson, whose kick in behind sat up perfectly for debutant Ben Redshaw to score. Atkinson added a touchline conversion moments later to complete a 14-point swing inside four minutes.

Spain mounted one final attack, with Estanislao Bay threatening downfield in the closing seconds, but England A held out to secure a hard-earned 29–25 victory.