Morocco national rugby union team

Morocco
Nickname(s)	Atlas Lions
Union	Fédération Royale Marocaine de Rugby
Captain	Houssine Arabat
First colours	Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	48 (as of 16 January 2023)
Biggest win
	Morocco 68–3 Mauritius ; (10 July 2016)

The Morocco national rugby union team are a national sporting side, representing

Africa Cup annually. The team has won the competition in 2003 and 2005. They usually play their internationals in Casablanca

.

Morocco has thus far not qualified for a Rugby World Cup, but have participated in the qualifying tournaments since the early 1990s. For the 2007 Rugby World Cup tournament in France, Morocco failed to qualify when they lost to Portugal, home and away meaning they would not make the Repechage 1 play-off against Uruguay.

The national side is ranked 47th in the world (as of 29 July 2019) while their best ranking was 20th in the world (on 5 July 2004 )^[1]

History

Morocco played their first international match on 25 December 1931 in Rabat, which Spain won 14–6. Another match was held three days later, and Morocco managed to hold Spain to a 10-all draw. Morocco met Spain again in April of the next year, though this time in Madrid, losing 8–14. The two teams met again that December, Spain winning 14–0. After playing four internationals, no official matches would be played by Morocco until 1967.^{[citation needed]}

Making their return to the international rugby stage, Morocco faced off against their old opponents of the 1930s – Spain, losing 3–0. Morocco then won their first match, at home in

West Germany, and lost games to touring French sides, as well as teams like Romania. Morocco played a French XV in 1983 in Casablanca, losing 9–16.^{[citation needed}

]

Morocco entered the

Côte d'Ivoire

by 11–4. Their qualifying competitions for the 1995 Rugby World Cup started in group 2 Africas, winning their first game over Tunisia by 6–5, in October 1993. They lost their second game to

Côte d'Ivoire but did go through to round 2, where they lost to Côte d'Ivoire again, as well as Zimbabwe, and drew with Namibia.^{[citation needed}

]

Morocco were a part of Round 4 for the

European Nations Cup for Tier 2 rugby nations . They performed well and the highlight was when they defeated Romania 18–10 in Casablanca. In the same season, Morocco also played an under-23 Springboks side. In qualifying tournaments for the 2003 world cup, Morocco played in the six nation split third round, losing to Tunisia by one point and defeating Côte d'Ivoire. In February 2003, Morocco defeated France Amateurs 32–22 in Rabat.^{[citation needed}

]

Morocco's bid to qualify for the

Africas qualifying tournament. They defeated Uganda 36–3 in their first match, and then drew Côte d'Ivoire 9–9. They then lost 25–7 in Windhoek and 8–27 in Casablanca to Namibia. Morocco advanced to the Repechage Round as Africa 2, to play Europe 4 – Portugal, who won the home and away series.^{[citation needed}

]

Morocco failed surprisingly the early stage of the

Côte d'Ivoire.^{[citation needed}

]

After failing to field a team in the 2011 Africa Cup Division 1A, Morocco, along with Namibia were relegated to Division 1B for 2012. After losses to Madagascar and Senegal, Morocco were relegated to the Division 1C tournament for the 2013 Africa Cup, and as such, were eliminated from the 2015 Rugby World Cup.^[2]

Current squad

World Cup record

World Cup record									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Not invited								-
1991	did not qualify								3	1	0	2	23	36
1995									5	2	1	2	51	76
1999									5	3	0	2	65	53
2003									2	1	0	1	49	48
2007									8	3	1	4	108	100
2011									2	1	0	1	38	39
2015									2	0	0	2	53	61
2019									4	0	1	3	83	161
Total	0/9	0	0	0	0	0	0	31	11	3	17	470	574

Honours

Official competitions

Rugby Africa Cup

Champions: 2003, 2005
Runner-up: 2000, 2001, 2004

Second level

Champions: 2017

Third level

Champions: 2016
Runner-up: 2013

North African Tri Nations

Champions: 2016, 2017

Rugby Arab Cup

Champions: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2024

Rugby Europe International Championships

Third: 1971, 1972, 2000

External links

References

^ world.rugby. "Men's Rankings | World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
^ "Official RWC 2015 Site". www.rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.

[1] world.rugby. "Men's Rankings | World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 23 September 2021.

[2] "Official RWC 2015 Site". www.rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.

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