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Cyprus national rugby union team
National rugby union team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Cyprus national rugby union team is nicknamed ‘’The Mighty Mouflons’’ after a native wild horned sheep which is also the republic's national animal.[1] Cyprus won 28 of their first 30 games from 2007–2015 and hold the world record for the most consecutive international rugby union tests wins with 24, which ended on 15 November 2014 in a loss Latvia.[2] They were controversially disqualified from the knock-out phase of the 2015 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, as they did not meet the necessary membership criteria according to the International Rugby Board.[3][4]
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History
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The first international game of the Cyprus national rugby union team took place on 24 March 2007 against Greece in Paphos. The Cypriot XV won the game by 39-3 in front of 2,500 fans setting a world record for largest win in début match.
In October and November 2007, Cyprus beat Azerbaijan, Monaco and Slovakia to win the 2006–08 European Nations Cup Division 3D, in their first year on the international scene. However, they lost the play-off game for promotion to Division 3C for the 2008–10 European Nations Cup on 6 September 2008 against Israel by a score of 23–14. This would be Cyprus' only loss in international rugby for the next six years.
Record setting win streak
The following season, Cyprus had another attempt to be promoted as they played Bosnia and Herzegovina, Azerbaijan and Monaco in a round-robin home-and-away basis. They won every game scoring a total of 187 points and conceding only 17. They gained automatic promotion to Division 3B, although, for the following season, the divisions had changed numbers, so instead of moving to Division 3B, they were in fact in Division 2D.
The 2010–12 European Nations Cup saw Cyprus play in Division 2D (the lowest level of the second division) against Bulgaria, Finland, Greece and Luxembourg. They won all their games for the second consecutive year increasing their win success to 15 and making it two consecutive seasons and nearly four years unbeaten. They scored 4 or more tries in each of their games during the 2010–2012 season, including an emphatic 94–3 win over Bulgaria, and were promoted to Division 2C for 2012–2014.
Their 2012–14 European Nations Cup Division 2B campaign kicked off in style with a 54–20 win over Austria. They followed that win with consecutive home and away wins against Slovenia, Bulgaria and Hungary and also a home win over Austria. On 16 March 2013 ahead of their match against Bulgaria, Cyprus were aware of a potential world record of 18 games unbeaten which would overtake the official record of 17 games originally held by both New Zealand (between 1965 and 1969 and again between 2013 and 2014), South Africa (between 1997 and 1998) and Lithuania (between 2006 and 2010). They won the match comfortably 79–10. A month later, Cyprus were informed that they would not be eligible to qualify for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and were disqualified by the International Rugby Board due to 'not meeting the necessary membership criteria'.[3]
Cyprus played in Division 2B for the 2014–16 European Nations Cup, where they were grouped with Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra and Hungary.
Listed below are several world records and achievements Cyprus set during their world record 24 match winning streak:
- World record for most consecutive international rugby union test wins (24), which ended in a 39–20 loss to Latvia on 15 November 2014.[5][6]
- World record for most consecutive international rugby union wins by greater than a converted try (14).[7][8]
- World record for most consecutive international rugby union matches scoring 4 or more tries (11).[7]
- Won 11 away games in a row, tied for second most all time.[7]
- Won 10 consecutive matches by 30-plus points between 2011–2013, which ended in a 16–15 victory over Hungary.
Post win streak era
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Motto
The Cyprus Rugby Federation has adopted as its motto the famous Spartan phrase:
Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, translating as "either with this or upon this", an idiom that effectively means victory or death. The origin of the motto is ancient Sparta and "this" refers to the shield. Spartans killed in battle were carried home on the shield, while those returning alive and victorious from battle would still have it. A soldier fleeing the battle would have to drop the shield.
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Kit
Home
2013/14
Away
2013/14
Home grounds
Until March 2010, Cyprus did not have a National Stadium, due to the poor recognition of the government they did not supply a stadium. Cyprus' first international was played in Paphos at Kiniras Sports ground. Then a further game at the same ground in the ENC 3D tournament against Slovakia. They then moved to the British Army base playing their games at Happy Valley in Episkopi. Now the national stadium has been recognised as Pafiako Stadium which is situated in the centre of Paphos. It holds a capacity of 10,000.
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Performances
List of test matches
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Cyprus only lost 15 out their first fifty test matches. They recorded their first win over Malta on 23 November by 18–16 to celebrate their 50th international.
Cyprus are not a full member of the International Rugby Board, so none of their international matches count towards the IRB World Rankings.
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Overall
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Cyprus national XV at test level up until 5 April 2025, updated after match with 
Andorra.
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Coaches
Current squad
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The following players formed the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South match against Croatia.[9]
- Known Caps updated after match with Croatia.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
Staff
- Head Coach - Andrew Barnett
- Coach - Alexander Zavallis Roebuck
- Team Manager - Peter Morrish
- Physio - Theo Lenos
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See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
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