Spain regain their core status

The Spaniards regained their status and will play with the world's leading sides such as Fiji and South Africa next season after defeating Germany, with one veteran player saying the team "deserved to be back."

The victory comes five years after they were last promoted to the World Sevens Series in 2012, before losing their place two years later. 

"We deserve to be back in the circuit. We have the experience and the team to get back into the Series and play well," Spain's Angel Lopez said.

Spain lost to hosts Hong Kong in last year's quarterfinals but later qualified for the Olympics in Rio, which Lopez said gave Sevens a "massive" boost in a country where rugby has little history.

"Rugby is not very big in Spain but it became big because of us [in the Olympics]. Both women and men qualified for Rio and that was a good show for Spain," he added.

Lopez, who played when the team previously competed in the Series, added that the standard had improved since the team had last played with elite teams, but said Spain could adapt. 

"We have many young people coming up now and of course if we train properly, if we have a good structure back in Spain, I think we can compete," he stated.

Agence France-Presse