Israel national rugby union team

The Israel national rugby union team (Hebrew: נבחרת ישראל ברוגבי) is governed by Rugby Israel, which oversees all rugby union in Israel. As of 24 January 2022, Israel is ranked 60th in the IRB World Rankings.

Israel
Shirt badge/Association crest
UnionRugby Israel
Head coachKevin Musikanth
CaptainAdrian Rainstein
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current62 (as of 16 January 2023)
Highest56 (4 April 2022)
First international
Switzerland Switzerland 9 – 9 Israel Israel
(25 May 1981)
Biggest win
Finland Finland 8 – 70 Israel Israel
(2 May 2009)
Biggest defeat
Netherlands Netherlands 56 – 0 Israel Israel
(3 November 1993)

Their home ground is at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Central District, known for its large number of immigrants from English-speaking countries.

History

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The sport was brought to the country by British soldiers during the Mandate era, but petered out after the British left. A wave of immigration from English-speaking countries since 1967 has seen renewed interest in the sport, particularly in areas with large English-speaking populations such as Ra'anana and Jerusalem.

 
Israel playing Lithuania in 2009.

A national league was set up in 1972, and the Israel Rugby Union (now Rugby Israel) formed in 1975. Israel's first international match was away to Switzerland on 25 May 1981, and ended 9–9.

The Union joined the International Rugby Board in 1988, and participated in the European section of the qualifying rounds for the 1991 Rugby World Cup. In a group with Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland, Israel lost all three matches, but were by no means humiliated.

In the qualifying matches for the 1995 World Cup, Israel thrashed Hungary 67–8 in the preliminary round, before being knocked out in the Round 1 group stage, failing to score a point in two of their three games.

The qualifying matches for the 1999 Rugby World Cup followed the established pattern, with Israel being knocked out in the group stage, though they avoided finishing bottom of their five-team group by beating Austria.

The same happened in the 2003 WC qualifiers, where they finished fourth in a six team group. In the 2007 WC qualifiers they did not even make it to the group stage, being thrashed 113–7 on aggregate (0–53, 60–7) by Lithuania.

Israel beat Slovenia by 26–19 at 11 May 2009, but lost to Lithuania by 3–19 at 23 May 2009, ending their campaign for the 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifyings. These were the first ever games of Israel to be televised.

In the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifyings, Israel won Division 2B of Europe qualification, defeating all opponents and being promoted to the play-off round.

Record

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World Cup

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World Cup record World Cup Qualification record
Year Round P W D L F A P W D L F A
   1987 Not Invited Not Invited
    1991 did not qualify 3 0 0 3 31 64
  1995 4 1 0 3 77 118
  1999 4 1 1 2 46 73
  2003 5 2 0 3 134 83
  2007 2 0 0 2 7 113
  2011 6 5 0 1 165 64
  2015 6 5 0 1 171 109
  2019 4 3 0 1 135 100
  2023 Automatically eliminated
Total 0/9 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 17 1 16 766 724

European Competitions Since 2000

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Season Division G W D L PF PA +/− Pts Pos
2000 European Nations Cup Fourth Division Pool 2 3 1 0 2 54 53 +1 5 3rd
2001-02 European Nations Cup Third Division Pool 2 4 0 0 4 72 122 -50 4 5th
2002-03 European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C 2 1 0 1 53 38 +15 2nd
2003-04 European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C 2 1 0 1 24 63 -39 2nd
2004-06 European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C 4 2 0 2 97 52 +45 8 3rd
2006-08 European Nations Cup Third Division 3C 8 3 0 5 141 158 -17 14 4th
2008-10 European Nations Cup Third Division 3C 8 8 0 0 257 59 +198 24 1st
2010-12 European Nations Cup Second Division 2C 8 7 0 1 186 97 +89 30 1st
2012-14 European Nations Cup Second Division 2B 8 7 0 1 212 109 +103 33 1st
2014-16 European Nations Cup Second Division 2A 4 0 1 3 77 102 -25 3 5th
2016-17 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South 4 3 0 1 135 100 +35 14 2nd
2017-18 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South 4 2 0 2 105 86 +19 10 3rd
2018-19 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South 4 2 0 2 104 62 +42 11 3rd
2019-20 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South 2 0 1 1 38 67 -29 2 5th
2021-22* Rugby Europe Conference 1 South 1 0 0 1 13 15 -2 1 3rd

Overall

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Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Israel national XV at test level up until 27 May 2023:

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn % Won
  Andorra 5 4 1 0 80%
  Armenia 2 0 2 0 0%
  Austria 4 3 1 0 75%
  Azerbaijan 1 1 0 0 100%
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 4 2 0 66.67%
  Bulgaria 6 4 2 0 66.67%
  Croatia 8 1 7 0 12.5%
  Cyprus 5 5 0 0 100%
  Czech Republic 4 0 3 1 0%
  Denmark 5 3 2 0 60%
  Finland 5 4 1 0 80%
  Greece 2 2 0 0 100%
  Hungary 4 3 1 0 75%
  Latvia 3 1 2 0 33.33%
  Lithuania 4 0 4 0 0%
  Luxembourg 9 6 3 0 66.67%
  Malta 7 1 6 0 14.29%
  Moldova 1 0 1 0 0%
  Monaco 1 1 0 0 100%
  Netherlands 2 0 2 0 0%
  Norway 5 4 1 0 80%
  Serbia 2 2 0 0 100%
  Slovenia 6 3 2 1 50%
  Sweden 3 0 3 0 0%
   Switzerland 7 0 5 2 0%
  Ukraine 1 0 1 0 0%
  Yugoslavia 3 0 3 0 0%
Total 111 52 55 4 46.85%

Recent Matches

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Current squad

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The following players were included in the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference South 1 match against Malta on 13 November 2021.[1]

Head Coach:   Kevin Musikanth

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province


Yaron Harris Prop (1993-06-25) 25 June 1993 (age 31)
Tomer Bracha Hooker (1990-08-28) 28 August 1990 (age 34)
Nitsan Reizel Prop (1997-12-27) 27 December 1997 (age 26)   Tel Aviv Heat
Thomas Burden Lock (1996-10-29) 29 October 1996 (age 28)   Tel Aviv Heat
Yotam Shulman Lock (1995-04-04) 4 April 1995 (age 29)   Tel Aviv Heat
Yiftach Engel Flanker (1994-02-11) 11 February 1994 (age 30)   Tel Aviv Heat
Ushangi Manjavidze Flanker (1998-06-29) 29 June 1998 (age 26)
Uri Gail Number 8 (1996-02-10) 10 February 1996 (age 28)   Beaune
Omer Levinson Scrum-half (1999-07-04) 4 July 1999 (age 25)   Tel Aviv Heat
Mati Gordon Fly-half (2000-01-16) 16 January 2000 (age 24)   Tel Aviv Heat
Adrian Rainstein (c) Wing (2000-09-13) 13 September 2000 (age 24)
Michael Eli Centre (1999-09-13) 13 September 1999 (age 25)
Idan Eisenberg Centre (2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 24)   Tel Aviv Heat
Gal Aviram Wing (2000-08-10) 10 August 2000 (age 24)
Vitalii Pryimak Fullback (2000-05-29) 29 May 2000 (age 24)   ASA Tel Aviv Rugby Club
Eirad Barkai Flanker (2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 24)   Tel Aviv Heat
Alan Dodin Fullback (2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 (age 24)   Tel Aviv Heat
Yitzhak Hirsch ?? (1998-11-20) 20 November 1998 (age 26)
Maayan Shaked Lock (1999-11-28) 28 November 1999 (age 25)   Tel Aviv Heat
Yahel Rozillio Lock (1999-01-29) 29 January 1999 (age 25)   Tel Aviv Heat
Eitan Humphreys Flanker (1990-02-21) 21 February 1990 (age 34)
Daniel Stein Fly-half (2000-10-01) 1 October 2000 (age 24)

Maccabiah Games

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Israel is unique amongst the Maccabiah Games teams for two reasons, firstly it is the only true national team competing, and secondly, non-Jews who are Israeli citizens can qualify for it.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Malta vs Israel Match Sheet" (PDF). Rugby Europe. 14 November 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
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Official