Kiwi Linklater feeling tingly at prospect of World Cup
SPAIN points-machine Brad Linklater admits he has “goose bumps” at the thought of going to Rugby World Cup 2019 with his adopted country Spain.
Victory over qualification leaders Romania in Madrid today will put Los Leones in pole position to claim the spot reserved for Europe 1 in Pool A as their remaining RWC qualifiers are against Rugby Europe Championship makeweights Belgium and Germany.
Spain, whose only previous experience of the game’s biggest stage came in 1999, currently trail the Oaks by three points in the qualification table and Auckland-raised Linklater is braced for the challenge ahead.
Spain go into the match missing injured prop Jonathan Garcia but otherwise coach Santiago Santos picks from strength.
“Just thinking about the possibility of being there at the World Cup is pretty surreal and puts bumps on my skin,” said Linklater, the younger brother of former New Zealand Maori hooker Scott.
“There are a lot of players in the squad who are around their 30s and we’re getting close to the point where we’re thinking of hanging up our boots, so it’s time to throw everything at this chance we’ve got and have no regrets.
“We’ve taken the first step towards at least making the play-off stages and possibly making a bit of history by getting the automatic card to the World Cup.”
Romania have won the last six meetings between the two with Spain’s last win (13-12) coming at home in March 2012.
“We’ve put the pressure on Romania by beating Russia (20-13) and they’ve got to come here and show why they are the higherranked team,” the 32-year-old added.
“It’s important that we capitalise on every opportunity that comes our way because there won’t be too many in the game I wouldn’t have thought.”
Linklater is just nine points shy of becoming only the fourth Spanish player to score 200 Test points but would have been even closer to the double century had he not struck the upright twice against Russia.
“I spent the last seven minutes or so sat on the bench praying that those missed kicks wouldn’t cost us with the scores so close. But we had a bit of luck in the end (with a disallowed Russia try) and I was pretty relieved at the final whistle.”
Both of Saturday’s games went as expected with big wins for Georgia and Russia against Germany and Belgium respectively.
With their place at RWC 2019 already guaranteed, the Lelos’ sole focus in this year’s Rugby Europe Championship is to reclaim the title they lost last year to Romania.
Milton Haig’s side improved on their 47-0 opening day win over Belgium by beating Germany 64-0 in Offenbach – the first time they have achieved back-to-back clean sheets in Test rugby – to top the table with a maximum ten points.
The Lelos were a long way off their best though, a litany of handling errors keeping the scoreline below what many people predicted prior to kick-off.
Four converted tries in the final 24 minutes, two by giant lock Evgeny Elgin, helped Russia ease away from a stubborn Belgian side and win 48-7 in Krasnodar. The victory means they still have a chance of finishing as the second-best ranked side in the competition, other than Georgia, and subsequently remain in the hunt for a place at the World Cup via the playoffs.