The UE Stanboiana won the League title this Sunday after 16 years without achieving it. The Catalan team, dean of Spanish rugby, beat AMPO Ordizia 23-17 in a Baldiri Aleu packed to overflowing.
Although it was the Basque team that started the hostilities with a try by Elliot Ryan and a transformation by Valentín Cruz (0-7, min.19), the Santobiana leveled the balance with a try by Imanol Martínez and a transformation by Javier Rojas (7-7 ) eight minutes later. The drops from Martínez and Rojas before the break were a necessary morale boost for the game. La Santboiana went to the locker room with an advantage on the scoreboard (13-7).
In the second part, an attempt by Ignacio Contardi and the subsequent transformation of Rojas raised the lead to 20-7 (m.65). The goierritarras played to the rebut but the Barcelonans knew how to control the game and put it to sleep in search of victory. Afa Tauli, one of the team’s stars, injured in the first half, also endured until the end.
A penalty kick converted by a cross (m.67), 20-10, gave Ordizia little hope, but Santboiana was able to hold on and close the score with another penalty kick converted by Rojas that put the final 23-10.
With the League title without losing a single game at home, the Santboiana put an end to the Valladolid dominance of recent years, with the VRAC and El Salvador, and a finishing touch to their hundred years of existence that they could not celebrate the year spent with his fans because of the pandemic (100 1). A historic and peculiar club chaired by Aurora Bravo.
