Women's Rugby Europe Championship talking points: Netherlands and Spain make opening statements

It was a weekend for the title contenders as the Spain and Netherlands beat Belgium and Portugal in the opening round of the 2026 Women’s Rugby Europe Championship.

Las Leonas looked energised, banking seven tries and 39 points to none, handing Belgium a less than warm welcome back to the tournament.

As for the Netherlands, a nine-try and 59-point win was a superb way to start their title bid and gave no chance of a Portuguese shock.

Amàlia Argudo in fine form

After seven months dealing with injury, Stade Toulousain’s Amàlia Argudo has made a successful return to the Las Leonas fold as the utility back scored twice in her side’s 39-0 win over Belgium.

In Régis Sonnes’ debut as Spain’s head coach, Argudo was shifted to full-back duties, a move that proved to be the right decision, as she produced one of her best performances in the past four years.

Despite the two tries scored, it was her ability to turn every carry into a key attacking opportunity that was the main highlight of her performance, as she claimed six line-breaks and two try assists in her team’s seven-try win.

Argudo scored what was undoubtedly the best try of the round, opting to go for a solo run from her 22, and evaded tacklers with ease before triumphantly diving for the try area.

Despite Claudia Peña not being available for the opening round, Argudo was enough to power the Las Leonas and guide them towards a promising start to the campaign.

Spanish set-piece draw the line in the sand

With the departures of Laura Delgado, Mónica Castelo and Anna Puig, Spain fans were worried about their side’s set-piece prowess, a concern that was well handled in the competition’s opener.

While Belgium successfully denied Spain from dominating the opening 10 minutes, the Las Leonas forward pack started to gel and eventually took control of the scrum and line-out.

 

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Lyon’s Eider García was impressive in the front row, continuously powering through the opposition with the lock pairing of Lourdes Alameda and Cristina García puppeteering the line-out with total mastery.

In the end, Spain’s dominance in the set-piece was translated into five scrum penalties won and one driving maul try, and worked as their main platform to strike the Belgian in-goal area.

Linde van der Velden – a frightening sight for the Portuguese

There’s nothing like watching a legend of the game going at it. Linde van der Velden was superb in the Netherlands 59-0 win against Portugal as she bagged a brace of tries and steered the Dutch set-piece to success.

The home side quickly took control of the game as the Oranje forward pack completely bossed their opposition. Every set-piece paid off as the five opening tries came a direct result of it.

As Van der Velden was steering the driving maul and the scrum from No. 8 – the Netherlands felt even more comfortable than they had anticipated – acting like their main pipeline to land a great result in the opening round.

On top of that, the Exeter Chiefs forward managed to reach the Portuguese in-goal area twice, throwing tacklers backwards before grounding the ball.

Knowing that a Netherlands victory was inevitable, the truth is that with Van der Velden, the Netherlands are a clearly more threatening side. Something Spain should take into account.

The Netherlands close to their best form

Nine tries scored and none conceded. The Netherlands looked great in the Women’s Rugby Europe Championship opening round. With that said, was this a sign that we can expect even greater things from Gareth Gilbert’s side?

While it is too soon to tell, as their litmus test will take place in a few weeks, the way that the Dutch forward pack and backline linked was impressive, creating several great moments of play that completely shattered the Portuguese defence.

Amongst the leading Dutch performers, fly-half Pleuni Kievit, centre Isabel du Pre and winger Lieve Stallmann were sensational, scored one try each and came up with several plays that electrified the home side’s performance.

While it might be premature to reach any conclusion, something is brewing on this Dutch side that might even be enough to finally take the crown from Spain’s head.