Spain announce one-off Test against rising women's rugby nation

Spain’s Las Leonas will play a one-off Test against the Springbok Women at the start of October.

The fixture will take place shortly after the side has played WXV Global Series Challenger fixtures against Fiji, Samoa and Brazil in Hong Kong China.

Seville will host the match at its La Cartuja Sports Complex on Sunday 4 October. It will be the first time that Las Leonas have ever played a fixture in the city.

In their release, Real Federación Española de Rugby [FER] claimed that their first home game of the season will be “crucial for the women’s national team’s objectives; with qualification for the 2029 World Cup in Australia potentially within reach this season”.

Last season, hot on the heels of their group stage exit at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, Spain sailed to a Women’s Rugby Europe Championship title in Régis Sonnes’ first tournament as head coach.

In South Africa, Spain will be hosting a team that have enjoyed a rapid rise in the world of women’s rugby over the past 12 months.

Now ranked 1oth in the World Rugby rankings, Swys de Bruin’s team stunned the globe at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 last autumn as they made the quarter-final of the tournament.

In the months since that landmark fixture agains the Black Ferns at Exeter’s Sandy Park, the side have claimed a fifth Rugby Africa Women’s Cup in a row, drawn a Test series with the USA Women’s Eagles and whitewashed the Fijiana XV in the Pacific.

FER described the team as being “characterized by a formidable, highly physical forward pack combined with explosive speed among their outside backs”.

In their WXV Global Series fixtures, South Africa will play Wales and Italy in Europe before hosting Ireland twice in October.

Taking place a week after Ireland host Japan outside of the WXV Global Series window, Spain will hope to end a seven year drought against the Boks and have requested that their supports ‘roar’ Las Leonas from the stands.