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The 3rd leg of the FIRA GPS took place this weekend in Barcelona and with the 2 previous tournaments going by with little surprises, the Spanish crowds at the Olympic stadium took in a very different tournament.

The first day saw Spain fail to make the cup with defeats to Russia (5.12) and Portugal (12.17) whilst the latter also lost to Ukraine 0.10). The Portugese team forced themselves into the Cup semi-final by defeating the Russians (21.12). In the first group, England continued their dominance of the competition on day 1 with wins against Romania (29.7), Georgia (33.7), Italy (22.12), France (22.10) and Netherlands (26.7) they were joined in the Cup Semi-Finals by another surpise package, Italy who made it through with their victory on the morning of Day 2 against an in-form France side (14.7)

With the cup sem-finals taking the form of England v Russia and Portugal v Italy, it meant that former semi-finalists in previous tournaments Spain and France found themsevles in the plate and another top side, Georgia found themselves playing off in the Bowl. Day 1 saw Wales struggle once again, perhaps meaning that they need to change to tact and start entering a stronger side into these very competitive tournaments as they only gained the one victory in the group stages which included a loss to struggling Moldova.

Wales did go some way to regaining some respect on Day 2 with victories over Romania and Georgia (33.19) who they had lost to in Moscow saw them take victory in the bowl

In the plate competition Ukraine upset France (14.12) and Spain ran out convincing winners against the Netherlands (33.0) to set up what turned out to be a one-sided final, as the Spanish ran out 24.0 winners to take 5th place overal.

The Cup semi-finals saw further upsets as Russia went a step further than their draw with the English in Moscow as they defeated the series leaders 17.14 with a powerful performance in what was a great game of rugby. In the 2nd semi-final it was Italy who upset the Portugese side who have been so consistent this year 12.7.

So the final of the 3rd leg of the FIRA GPS this summer saw new finalists with Russia taking on Italy and it was the World Series experience of the Russians that told in the 2nd half of the final as their defense stood firm as the Italians attempts to break the deadlock but it was Russia who squeezed the victory by a mere 2 points (7.5) which summised the tournament from the weekend, which was full of upsets and their was very little difference between the top 4 sides but it was Russia who won the day.

England continue to lead the series, and it would look incredibly unlikely that they could be caught next week in Bucharest, they are followed by Portugal, Spain and Russia. At the bottom of the table with 2 teams being relegated it's looking likely to be Moldova who currently sit bottom to be joined by Romania or Netherlands.