Throughout the century, Spain mostly played against other European opponents such as France, Italy, Romania, West Germany, the Soviet Union, and Portugal.

Today, Spain competes in the European Nations Cup against Georgia, Germany, Portugal, Romania, and Russia.

An unofficial Spanish XV played France, including Yves du Manoir, in 1927, but it was organised by a rebel governing body.

[3] Spain played their first officially recognised match in 1929, winning 9–0 over Italy in the Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc.

Rugby operations throughout Europe were continued in the 1950s; through this decade the Spanish struggled to the likes of West Germany, Italy and Romania.

This pattern of consistency continued somewhat in the 1960s and 1970s; Spain traditionally struggled versus more established opponents such as Romania and Italy, but beat other neighboring sides such as Portugal and Morocco.

Even more impressive, the Spanish swept a two-game tour in Zimbabwe, a team that had appeared in the 1987 Rugby World Cup, winning 28–16 and 14–9 in Bulawayo and Harare.

By the end of the 80s, Spain was considered one of the best non-5 Nations teams in Europe, just barely behind Romania, Italy, and the Soviet Union.

In the 1991 qualifying rounds, Spain easily toppled its first group consisting of the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium, all games being played at home.

Despite losing on aggregate, Spain went through the repechage due to Russia being disqualified for fielding ineligible players.

However they lost out to Romania and Georgia in Pool B, ending their hopes of reaching the World Cup in France.

Spain entered the top 20 in the IRB ranking in February 2013 for the first time following a 25–18 win over the higher ranked Georgia making headlines with semi-pro back Jack Rowland making a surprising call up, due to both fly-half and first team inside center pulling out with injury moments before the squad was announces.

The 2019 qualifying saw the team markedly improve; in 2017 they beat Germany, Russia and Belgium, and lost narrowly to Romania at home.

[citation needed] With both of these victories, Spain led their qualifying group and looked set for a possible qualification at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, but a defeat at Belgium in the last round, and a heavy deduction of points because of fielding of ineligible players,[citation needed] ended their hopes.

A similar outcome occurred in 2022 when the team initially qualified for the 2023 Rugby World Cup after wins over direct rivals Romania and Portugal, but was later disqualified due to fielding a player who didn't meet the selection criteria.

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Spain national XV at test level up until 16 November 2024.