Spain 24-61 Ireland XV
Ireland XV scored nine tries as they brushed past Spain 61-24 in Leganés.
Harry Byrne may not have been amongst the try scorers, but the out-half landed eight out of nine conversions as Cullie Tucker's side eased to victory.
A large crowd of 11,236 was present in the hope that Spain, playing at Estadio Municipal de Butarque for the first time, could cause a shock against a strong Ireland side, but the visitors hit the front through Darragh Murray in the 10th minute after taking a pass from Paul Boyle, with Byrne landing the extras.
Vicente Boronat struck back after Ruadhan Quinn picked up a yellow card, but Michael Milne went under the posts and Jude Postlethwaite touched down either side of Quinn’s sin-binning.
Robert Baloucoune’s pace was causing issues and he quickly landed two tries in the 28th and 36th minutes as Ireland moved 28-5 ahead before Boronat got over for his second try.
The final say of the half belonged to Ireland though with Boyle’s 39th minute try giving them a 42-10 lead at the break with Spain losing Iñaki Mateu to a yellow card.
Ireland, who had ten Test-capped internationals on show, saw their seventh try come within three minutes of the restart with Murphy running in from 40 metres after a good break from Jude Postlethwaite.
Alex Soroka was the next Irish player into the sin bin for a high challenge, and Ekain Imaz powered over from a five-metre scrum, Gonzalo López Bontempo successful with the conversion as Ireland led 54-17.
Byrne had a big hand in Ireland’s next try courtesy of Shayne Bolton, but it was his only missed conversion of the evening.
After 67 minutes, an Irish lineout caused the hosts issues with Scott Wilson scoring their last try of the evening.
The final scoring act went to Spain as, with Cathal Forde in the sin-bin, Imaz got over again with Bontempo again converting.
Spain: John Wessel Bell; Martiniano Cian, Iñaki Mateu, Gonzalo López Bontempo, Alberto Carmona; Gonzalo Vinuesa, Estanisao Bay; Thierry Futeu, Santiago Ovejero, Jon Zabala, Matthew Foulds, Ignacio Piñeiro, Manex Ariceta, Vicente Boronat, Ekain Imaz.
Replacements: Álvaro García, Raúl Calzón, Joaquín Domínguez, Imanol Urraza, Matheo Triki, Nicolás Infer, Álex Saleta, Lucien Richardis.
Ireland: Michael Lowry ; Robert Baloucoune, Jude Postlethwaite, Dan Kelly, Shayne Bolton; Harry Byrne, Ben Murphy; Michael Milne, Tom Stewart, Tom O’Toole, Evan O’Connell, Darragh Murray, Alex Soroka, Ruadhán Quinn, Paul Boyle.
Replacements: Lee Barron, Alex Usanov, Scott Wilson, Diarmuid Mangan, David McCann, Nathan Doak, Cathal Forde, Zac Ward.
Referee: Tomás Bertazza.
