Spain put one over Portugal

Limp Lobos: Portugal failed to find their RWC form

Spain punctuated their European Nations Cup campaign with a fine 21-17 victory over Portugal in Madrid on Saturday - a result that allowed Los Leones to leapfrog Os Lobos to finish fourth in the final standings.

Georgia clinched the title with victory over Spain in Tbilisi in April, but the Spaniards will be celebrating finishing above their Iberian rivals.

Russia finished second after defeat to the Lelos of Georgia in Siberia, and Romania end third.

The Czech Republic finished with the wooden spoon; Portugal, the 2007 World Cup contenders, ending in penultimate position.

The Lobos scored first and last in Madrid but Spain's dominant pack carried them through on a rainy afternoon at the Central de la Ciudad Universitaria.

Final table:

1: Georgia - played 10, won 9, drew 0, lost 1, points 28

2: Russia - 10, 8, 0, 2, 26

3: Romania - 10, 6, 0, 4, 22

5: Spain - 10, 4, 0, 6, 18

4: Portugal - 10, 3, 0, 7, 16

6: Czech Republic - 10, 0, 0, 10, 10

The scorers:

For Spain:

Tries: Insausti, Penalty Try, Cano

Cons: Gratton 3

For Portugal:

Tries: Aguilar, Mateus

Cons: Cardoso Pinto, Pinto

Pen: Pinto

The teams:

Spain: 15 César Sempere, 14 Juan Cano, 13 Javier Canosa, 12 Jaime Nava, 11 David Mota, 10 Mathieu Gratton, 9 Pablo Feijóo, 8 Iván Criado, 7 Juan González, 6 Rafael Camacho, 5 Sergio Souto, 4 Leandro Fernández-Aramburu, 3 Javier Salazar, 2 José Maria Bohórquez, 1 Ion Insausti.

Replacements: 16 Manuel Serrano, 17 Jesús Moreno, 18 César Bernasconi, 19 David Hernández, 20 Víctor Marlet, 21 Manuel Mazo, 22 Rafael Álvarez

Portugal: 15 Antonio Aguilar, 14 Aderito Esteves, 13 Diogo Gama, 12 Diogo Mateus, 11 David Mateus, 10 Duarte Cardoso Pinto, 9 Pedro Leal, 8 Tiago Girao, 7 João Uva, 6 Vasco Uva, 5 Gonçalo Uva, 4 Sebastião Cunha, 3 Cristian Spachuk, 2 Joao Correia, 1 Juan Murré.

Replacements: 16 Bernardo Duarte, 17 Diogo Fialho, 18 Valter Jorge, 19 Antonio Duarte, 20 Jose Pinto, 21 Pedro Cabral, 22 Gonçalo Foro.

Referee: Eric Darriere (France)

Touch judges: Jérôme Lamirand (France), Didier Dussaut (France)