Overnight on Friday Russia had shared the lead with Israel. Russia scored a maximum in Round 4, giving them the outright lead mid-day. But they stumbled in Round 5 losing 8-22 to the Netherlands Meanwhile Israel had scored 21 against the host nation and 19 against Spain. This was enough to overtake Russia, and stay ahead of Sweden and Norway who both had excellent days.

In Round 4 Sweden beat Spain 23-7, and then the Czech Republic 19-11. Norway, the holders, beat Germany 21-9 and then Poland, on VuGraph, 23-7. France had a poor day suffering two defeats and have fallen to 11th place. Of the chasing teams Denmark with 46 VPs and Iceland with 43 VPs made up the most ground.