Aussies revel in position as missionaries

Antonio Leon and his gallant novices finally relieved England of their most embarrassing record yesterday, but made them wait until the fifth minute of injury time.

A try seconds from the end of Spain's finest rugby occasion took the world champion Wallabies into the 90s and on to their biggest win. Matt Cockbain's final touchdown ensured that the margin of victory topped the 76 points by which the Australians humiliated a threadbare England team in Brisbane three years ago.

The mixture of amateurs and professionals led by Leon, a chemist from Seville, played courageously but were given a serious runaround.

Between the 12th minute of the first half and the 12th of the second, the World Cup-holders ran in 11 tries to lead 78-3 and leave the crowd of 5,000 at the university ground questioning the value of Australia's missionary exercise. Spanish coach Pablo Tomas Garcia said beforehand that he had been doing a lot of praying, but at that point it appeared as though he had been wasting his time.

There was still almost half-an-hour left for the Aussies to reach their century. Incredibly, Garcia's team somehow pulled themselves off the ropes and rattled the Wallabies into conceding six penalties in rapid succession and one try, claimed by their amateur lock Jose Miguel Villau at the climax of a purple patch.

The Aussies had cause to thank referee Joel Jutge's lenience because the Frenchman would have been justified in sending more than prop Nick Stiles to the sin-bin. In running through some new moves, their use of decoy runners would have been penalised by stricter referees.

Spain were simply unable to cope with the midfield power of Daniel Herbert and Nathan Grey. Wallaby coach Eddie Jones will have been satisfied with the warm-up but aware that it does not have any relevance for the England Test a week tomorrow. His only worry is over dazed hooker Michael Foley, who had to be helped from the field.