{"id":567659,"date":"2025-11-13T12:58:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567659\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T12:58:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T12:58:17","slug":"the-england-a-side-that-beat-spain-in-1988","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/567659\/","title":{"rendered":"The England ‘A’ side that beat Spain in 1988"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

England<\/a> A will face Spain<\/a> at the Estadio Jos\u00e9 Zorrilla in Valladolid on Saturday, live on RugbyPass TV, to rekindle a rivalry with the Iberian Peninsula that dates back 70 years.<\/p>\n

On 27 November 1955, the then England B side lost their first-ever game in Catalunya before winning the return fixture two days later, but it was almost three decades before they defeated the Spanish national side 16-9 in Seville.<\/p>\n

Spain were one of the emerging teams on the European circuit in the early 1980s, competing in the FIRA Championship, winning the B1 Group in 1983 before inviting England\u2019s second string to tour in the following May.<\/p>\n

England, rebranded as under-23s, had demonstrated their superiority against regional sides in San Sebastian and Barcelona, and their forwards dominated the Spanish, who lacked enough ball to supply their backs.<\/p>\n

Marcus Rose and Rob Andrew<\/a> scored tries in Valencia, while stand-in full-back Bristol\u2019s Simon Hogg, who played the first game in the centres, converted Rose\u2019s try and kicked a penalty. Andrew also scored a penalty.<\/p>\n

Spain gained revenge in March 1986, when they embarrassed England at the inaugural New South Wales<\/a> Sevens (now the World Sevens Series), winning a group game 24-6 with a brilliant display of running rugby.<\/p>\n

But in the same year, Stuart Barnes kicked five penalties in England\u2019s under-23s\u2019 15-10 victory at Twickenham, and their win at Imber Court, East Molesey, in March 1988 was even more convincing, 31-6.<\/p>\n

It was just as fiercely contested as previous encounters, and the victory owed much to Simon Hodgkinson<\/a>, who scored 19 of their points with three penalties, three conversions, and a try after supporting a superb Kevin Simms<\/a> break.<\/p>\n

England had scored two first-half tries. The first was a penalty try, and then Andy McFarlane, as relentless rain and a slippery ball at the Metropolitan Police ground hindered England\u2019s all-out attacking policy.<\/p>\n

The scoreline could have been even worse for Spain, who conceded a second-half try to Nigel Redman<\/a>, had England opted for Hodgkinson\u2019s boot instead of quick tap penalties to run the ball through their backs.<\/p>\n

The Spaniards\u2019 points came from a drop goal and a penalty from scrum-half Javier D\u00edaz, but their discipline became increasingly ragged as the game progressed, and England let them off the hook.<\/p>\n

What became of the England side?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Simon Hodgkinson<\/strong> \u2013 Nottingham full-back, nailed a then-world record seven penalties against Wales in 1991, has business interests in the care home sector.<\/p>\n

Jon Bentley<\/strong> \u2013 A policeman who was a Lions<\/a> and Great Britain league wing, has worked for Leeds Tykes on community programmes and as a business development manager. He is an after-dinner speaker.<\/p>\n

\"John28 May 1997, British Lions Tour of South Africa, Border v Lions, A muddied John Bentley of the British Lions during the post-match conference. (Photo by Mark Leech\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

John Buckton<\/strong> \u2013 The Saracens<\/a> centre played 319 times for the club, winning an English Cup in 1998, and is based in Waltham Forest, working as a support consultant for Anite Business Systems.<\/p>\n

Kevin Simms<\/strong> \u2013 The Wasps<\/a> centre, who played varsity rugby alongside Rob Andrew<\/a>, is now a GP on Merseyside and has served as the medical officer for Liverpool St Helens.<\/p>\n

Gary Hartley<\/strong> \u2013 Nottingham and Midlands centre and winger, a Chartered Surveyor running Hartleys Estate Agents for 20 years and now managing partner of Fine and Country.<\/p>\n

Andy Sutton<\/strong> \u2013 Cambridge University fly-half, a telecommunications network architect who founded the cat furniture designers Catipilla in 2016.<\/p>\n

Simon Robson<\/strong> \u2013 Moseley scrum-half, who is the father of former England ace Dan, was a teacher for 37 years, spending three decades as the head of rugby at Newcastle-under-Lyme School.<\/p>\n

Mark Linnett <\/strong>\u2013 The Moseley prop, who scored a try on his only senior cap against Fiji<\/a> in November 1989, is a former police detective and a qualified physical training instructor.<\/p>\n

John Olver <\/strong>\u2013 Harlequins<\/a> hooker who was an unused England replacement 31 times, taught at Northampton<\/a> School and Oundle School, and is the uncle of the Curry twins, Tom and Ben.<\/p>\n

Gary Pearce <\/strong>\u2013 An England international prop who made over 400 appearances for Northampton and worked as a surveyor for Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd in Hemel Hempstead.<\/p>\n

Nigel Redman<\/strong> \u2013 England lock who was an electrical engineer, has been the RFU\u2019s team performance director after a similar role with British Swimming.<\/p>\n

Steve Bainbridge<\/strong> \u2013 England and Lions lock, qualified as a teacher but worked in the motor industry and was a sales and development officer for Benfield, then Lookers Motor Group.<\/p>\n

John Wells<\/strong> \u2013 The Leicester<\/a> Tigers flanker was head coach at Welford Road and Newcastle<\/a> and has coached England and Rugby Colorno in Italy.<\/p>\n

\"AndyBath\u2019s head of academy Andy Robinson was impressed with how Scotland<\/a> dealt with Finn Russell\u2019s welfare in a high-pressure situation (Photo Patrick Khachfe\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Andy Robinson<\/strong> \u2013 Former England flanker who was a school teacher, has coached England, Scotland and Romania<\/a> and is on Bath\u2019s coaching staff.<\/p>\n

Andy McFarlane<\/strong> \u2013 Sale<\/a> and England B No.8, lives in South Manchester and has worked in the rail industry for Central Rail Systems Alliance.<\/p>\n

Spain<\/strong> \u2013 F Puertas, L Mart\u00edn, G Rivero, S Torres, E Uzquiano (C D\u00edaz 30), J Moreno, J D\u00edaz, J \u00c1lvarez, A Trenzano, T Pardo, F M\u00e9ndez, P Amunaritz, J Egido, H Massoni, J Chacarro<\/p>\n

Referee<\/strong> \u2013 Gareth Simmonds (Wales)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England A will face Spain at the Estadio Jos\u00e9 Zorrilla in Valladolid on Saturday, live on RugbyPass TV,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-567659","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115542512526896626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}