Israel national rugby union team

The Israel national rugby union team (Hebrew: נבחרת ישראל בראגבי) 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
UnionRugby Israel
Head coach Kevin Musikanth
CaptainAdrian Rainstein
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current56 (as of 04 April 2022)
First international
Switzerland 9 – 9 Israel
(25 May 1981)
Biggest win
Finland 8 – 70 Israel
(2 May 2009)
Biggest defeat
Netherlands 56 – 0 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
Main article: Rugby union in Israel

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

World Cup
World Cup record World Cup Qualification record
Year Round P W D L F A P W D L F A
1987Not InvitedNot Invited
1991Did not qualify30033164
1995410377118
199941124673
2003520313483
200720027113
2011650116564
20156501171109
20194301135100
2023Automatically eliminated
Total 0/9 0 0 0 0 0 0 34 17 1 16 766 724

European Competitions Since 2000
Season Division G W D L PF PA +/− Pts Pos
2000European Nations Cup Fourth Division Pool 231025453+153rd
2001-02European Nations Cup Third Division Pool 2400472122-5045th
2002-03European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C21015338+152nd
2003-04European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C21012463-392nd
2004-06European Nations Cup Third Division Pool C42029752+4583rd
2006-08European Nations Cup Third Division 3C8305141158-17144th
2008-10European Nations Cup Third Division 3C880025759+198241st
2010-12European Nations Cup Second Division 2C870118697+89301st
2012-14European Nations Cup Second Division 2B8701212109+103331st
2014-16European Nations Cup Second Division 2A401377102-2535th
2016-17Rugby Europe Conference 1 South4301135100+35142nd
2017-18Rugby Europe Conference 1 South420210586+19103rd
2018-19Rugby Europe Conference 1 South420210462+42113rd
2019-20Rugby Europe Conference 1 South20113867-2925th
2021-22*Rugby Europe Conference 1 South10011315-213rd

Overall

Updated on 22 December 2021, after match with  Malta.

Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn  % Won
 Andorra541080%
 Armenia20200%
 Austria431075%
 Azerbaijan1100100%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina642066.67%
 Bulgaria541080%
 Croatia716014.29%
 Cyprus3300100%
 Czech Republic30210%
 Denmark532060%
 Finland541080%
 Greece2200100%
 Hungary431075%
 Latvia312033.33%
 Lithuania40400%
 Luxembourg963066.67%
 Malta60600%
 Moldova10100%
 Monaco1100100%
 Netherlands20200%
 Norway541080%
 Serbia2200100%
 Slovenia412125%
 Sweden30300%
  Switzerland70520%
 Ukraine10100%
 Yugoslavia30300%
Total1034752445.63%

Recent Matches

Current squad

The following players were included in the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference South 1 match against Malta on 13th 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
Tomer Bracha Hooker
Nitsan Reizel Prop Tel Aviv Heat
Thomas Burden Lock Tel Aviv Heat
Yotam Shulman Lock Tel Aviv Heat
Yiftach Engel Flanker Tel Aviv Heat
Ushangi Manjavidze Flanker
Uri Gail Number 8 (1996-02-10) 10 February 1996 Beaune
Omer Levinson Scrum-half Tel Aviv Heat
Mati Gordon Fly-half Tel Aviv Heat
Adrian Rainstein (c) Wing
Michael Eli Centre
Idan Eisenberg Centre Tel Aviv Heat
Gal Aviram Wing
Vitalii Pryimak Fullback ASA Tel Aviv Rugby Club
Eirad Barkai Flanker Tel Aviv Heat
Alan Dodin Fullback Tel Aviv Heat
Yitzhak Hirsch ??
Maayan Shaked Lock Tel Aviv Heat
Yahel Rozillio Lock Tel Aviv Heat
Eitan Humphreys Flanker (1990-02-21) 21 February 1990
Daniel Stein Fly-half

Maccabiah Games

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

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

Official

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