Cyprus national rugby union team


The Cyprus national rugby union team is nicknamed "The Moufflons" after a kind of horned sheep which is also the republic's national animal, the Cypriot mouflon. It is featured on the 1, 2 and 5 euro cent coins as well. They have won 28 of their 30 games and hold the world record for the most consecutive international rugby union wins with 24, which was ended on 15 November 2014 as they lost to Latvia. 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.

History

The first international game of the Cyprus Rugby National 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.
In October and November 2007, Cyprus beat Azerbaijan, Monaco and Slovakia to win the 2006–08 European Nations Cup Division 3D, which was a great achievement 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 was Cyprus' only loss in international rugby for 6 years.
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 managed to win 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 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, South Africa and Lithuania. They went on to win 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'.
Cyprus are now playing in Division 2B for the 2014–16 European Nations Cup, where they are grouped with Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra and Hungary. They have currently played two games as of 15 November 2014. They won against Andorra 30–10 after trailing 10–0, which extended their world record to 24. They then lost 20-39 to Latvia in Riga on 15 November 2014. This was their first loss since losing to Israel in 2008, their second loss in all and also their biggest loss to date. Cyprus sit third in the table.

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.

Kit

Home
Away

Records

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.
GroundRecordRecent WinTeamRecent DrawRecent Loss
Pafiako Stadium, Paphos77,8%2018N/A6 May 2017
Happy Valley, Episkopi100%2009N/AN/A
Kiniras Sports Ground, Paphos100%2007N/AN/A

Cyprus Sevens

Since their first match in 2007, Cyprus have lost only 15 matches out of Fifty.
They recorded their first win over Malta on 23 November by 18 to 16 to celebrate their 50th International, which now gives them a 70% winning ratio.
Cyprus are not a full member of the International Rugby Board, so none of their international matches count towards the IRB World Rankings.
DateHomeScoreAwayVenueCompetition
24 March 200739 – 3PaphosFriendly
29 October 200729 – 0Paphos2006-08 ENC 3D
31 October 200719 – 10Nicosia2006-08 ENC 3D
3 November 200738 – 8Paphos2006-08 ENC 3D
6 September 200823 – 14Netanya2006-08 ENC 3C/3D Play-off
29 November 20083 – 37Baku2008-10 ENC 3D
6 December 200824 – 3Episkopi2008-10 ENC 3D
14 March 200933 – 7Episkopi2008-10 ENC 3D
21 March 20096 – 8Zenica2008-10 ENC 3D
14 November 20095 – 44Monaco2008-10 ENC 3D
6 March 201059 – 0Paphos2008-10 ENC 3D
27 March 201015 – 0Paphos2008-10 ENC 3D
20 November 201013 – 33Athens2010-12 ENC 2D
12 March 201155 – 8Paphos2010-12 ENC 2D
26 March 201170 – 10Paphos2010-12 ENC 2D
7 May 20110 – 50Luxembourg2010-12 ENC 2D
8 October 201148 – 7Paphos2010-12 ENC 2D
28 April 20123 – 94Pernik2010-12 ENC 2D
26 May 201272 – 5Paphos2010-12 ENC 2D
9 June 20125 – 52Helsinki2010-12 ENC 2D
17 November 201220 – 54Vienna2012-14 ENC 2C
8 December 201249 – 8Paphos2012-14 ENC 2C
16 March 201379 – 10Paphos2012-14 ENC 2C
20 April 201315 – 16Esztergom2012-14 ENC 2C
9 November 20133 – 34Ljubljana2012-14 ENC 2C
30 November 201322 – 8Paphos2012-14 ENC 2C
26 April 201415 – 46Sofia2012-14 ENC 2C
17 May 201446 – 13Paphos2012-14 ENC 2C
1 November 201430 – 10Paphos2014-16 ENC 2B
15 November 201439 – 20Riga2014-16 ENC 2B
28 March 201515 – 17Szazhalombatta2014-16 ENC 2B
2 May 201520 – 26Paphos2014-16 ENC 2B
7 November 20153 – 31Paphos2014-16 ENC 2B
28 November 201522 – 13Andorra la Vella2014-16 ENC 2B
9 April 201615 – 3Paphos2014-16 ENC 2B
23 April 201647 – 15Vilnius2014-16 ENC 2B
23 October 201631 – 3Paola2016-17 Conference 1 South
12 November 201628 – 38Paphos2016-17 Conference 1 South
11 February 201715 – 14Andorra la Vella2016-17 Conference 1 South
6 May 201727 – 29Paphos2016-17 Conference 1 South
11 November 201742 – 5Paphos2017-18 Conference 2 South
14 November 20176 – 38Piestany2017-18 Conference 2 South
24 March 201817 – 5Paphos2017-18 Conference 2 South
28 April 201835 – 17Belgrade2017-18 Conference 2 South
20 October 201846 – 24Split2018-19 Conference 1 South
10 November 201822 – 34Paphos2018-19 Conference 1 South
23 March 201910 – 37Paphos2018-19 Conference 1 South
6 April 201922 – 23Zenica2018-19 Conference 1 South
19 October 201920 – 25Paphos2018-19 Conference 1 South
23 November 201916 – 18Paola2018-19 Conference 1 South

Overall

AgainstPlayedWonLostDrawnPoints
for		Points
against		% Won
3120574733%
330011833100%
33001253100%
33004628100%
440027436100%
220012215100%
330014421100%
3030711000%
44009446100%
303064950%
202023700%
202035730%
2200987100%
33008718100%
330010921100%
3120318433%
101017350%
330010016100%
Total5035150161574870.00%

Coaches

NameYearsTestsWonDrewLostWin percentage
Niall Doherty2007–20084400100%
Paul Shanks2008–201424230196%
Phil Llewellyn2014–2015420250%
Paul Shanks2015–201510010%
Alexander Zavallis2015–201510010%
Andrew Binikos2016–20181140736%
Andrew Barnett2018–410325%

Current squad

Head Coach: Andrew Binikos

Recent call ups