Spain is the final country to qualify for the Olympics in Men's Rugby 7s, after the Lions defeated Samoa in dramatic fashion in the repechage tournament this weekend in Monaco.

Spain wasn't expected to win, but did so with superb teamwork. As captain Pablo Feijoo said, "we are not the fastest or the strongest, but we play as a team."

The Spanish got to Sunday's quarterfinals thanks to a 2-1 day on Saturday. They lost to Hong Kong in the pool stages, but that was enough. Interestingly, Samoa also lost a game in pool play. They lost to Ireland, and that was the team Spain faced off with first, winning 12-7 on a second-half try. Meanwhile, North American representative Canada lostin the quarterfinals 14-12 to Russia in a result that put an end to Canada's Olympic dream.

Russia's Vladimir Ostroushko scored the second-half try that put his side up 14-7. With no time left Ciaran Hearn scored for Canada, but Nathan Hirayama, architect of so many clutch plays for Canada, was unable to slot the conversion that would have led to extra time.

Samoa got by Hong Kong relatively easily, while the shock team of the tournament, Germany, shut out Chile 26-0.

In the semis, Spain held on against a physical imposing Russia team only to see Ostroushko score just before the end of the game to make it 10-10, and Ramil Gaysin's conversion put Russia up 12-10. But there was one more chance for Spain, and they made it count, with Igo Genua Sistiaga scoring after the hooter had sounded to win the game 17-12.

Samoa defeated Germany 26-14 to set up the final. In the final, Spain took a 12-0 lead, only to see Samoa come back with tries from Alexandra Samoa and Teofilo Fidow. Up 14-12 in the second half, Samoa produced a try out of nothing for Belgium Tuatagaloa, and the 19-12 seemed to be just enough. Spain came back with Pol Pla chasing down a nifty grubber, but the kick was too tough and it remained 19-17.

Then Samoa broke free and looked to be set to score once more. But a penalty under the Spanish posts for playing the ball on the ground gave Spain one more shot. And they worked their way down the field, and with the hooter gone, run a snappy skip-loop move for Ignacio Martin to go over in the corner. The game was over, Spain had won 22-19. Despair for Samoa, who must have thought they had it, and elation for a Spanish team that, said Feijoo, had devolved into a fight in training some weeks ago before coming together as a unit.

See video of the winning try here.

This was an excellent lesson in the craziness of 7s. Samoa beat Fiji to win the Paris 7s on May 16, and at that time looked unbeatable. But they couldn't beat Spain at the critical moment. For Canada, the loss has to be rough on the program, and it's worth noting that the USA needed everything they had to overcome a very harsh yellow card to beat Canada in the NACRA 7s last summer. The margins are so thin.

Also from North America, Mexico was very competitive in their games, but left Monaco winless. 

The 12 men's teams to compete in Rio are now confirmed:

USA, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Kenya, Great Britain, France, Japan, Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the hosts, Brazil.