Soviet Union national rugby union team
Union | Federation of USSR Rugby Union Players | ||
---|---|---|---|
| |||
First international | |||
Soviet Union 31–10 Griviţa Roşie (ro) (4 August 1974) | |||
Largest win | |||
Soviet Union 72–0 Sweden (30 October 1976) | |||
Largest defeat | |||
England 53–0 Soviet Union (7 September 1991) |
The USSR national rugby union team (Russian: сборная СССР по регби, Georgian: საბჭოთა კავშირის მორაგბეთა ეროვნული ნაკრები) represented the Soviet Union in rugby union until the early 1990s.
History
Although tournaments such as the
Rugby football was played in the
In 1935 the Moscow Championship was initiated, followed by the first Soviet Championship which took place in 1936.
In 1949, rugby union was forbidden throughout the USSR during the "fight against cosmopolitanism". Competition was resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship recommenced in 1966. In 1975, the Soviet national team played their first ever match.[1]
During the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet team began to improve their performances, often coming second to
The organisers of the 1987 Rugby World Cup had intended to invite the USSR as one of the participants. However, before the invitation could be made, the USSR refused to take part on political grounds, allegedly due to the continued IRB membership of South Africa. The first tournament was by invitation rather than qualification, and despite successes against teams such as Italy and Romania in the years leading up to the inaugural Cup, the USSR did not enter.
The Soviet team did not attempt to qualify for the
The FIRA Trophy 1974–1997
Year(s) | Winner | Second place | Third place |
---|---|---|---|
1973–74 | France | Romania | Spain |
1974–75 | Romania | France | Italy |
1975–76 | France | Italy | Romania |
1976–77 | Romania | France | Italy |
1977–78 | France | Romania | Spain |
1978–79 | France | Romania | Soviet Union |
1979–80 | France | Romania | Italy |
1980–81 | Romania | France | Soviet Union |
1981–82 | France | Italy | Romania |
1982–83 | Romania | Italy | Soviet Union |
1983–84 | France | Romania | Italy |
1984–85 | France | Soviet Union | Italy |
1985–87 | France | Soviet Union | Romania |
1987–89 | France | Soviet Union | Romania |
1989–90 | France | Soviet Union | Romania |
1990–92 | France | Italy | Romania |
1992–94 | France | Italy | Romania |
1995–97 | Italy | France | Romania |
USSR tour to New Zealand
In 1991, in preparation for the Rugby World Cup New Zealand hosted short tours by Western Samoa, Fiji, Romania and the USSR. There were no matches of Test status played by New Zealand against the tourists, but a side designated "New Zealand XV" met both the Romanians and Soviets, and both opponents awarded caps for the XV game. The tours gave the New Zealand selectors a chance to gauge the form of players likely to be on the periphery of selection for the World Cup.
The USSR tour party comprised 26 players and was led from the front-row by Sergei Molchenov. They won four and lost four matches:
Date | Opposition | Score | Result | Location |
May 25 | Nelson Bays | 25–24 | Won | Nelson |
May 29 | Marlborough | 23–16 | Won | Blenheim |
June 1 | Canterbury | 15–73 | Loss | Christchurch |
June 5 | Mid Canterbury | 33–10 | Won | Ashburton |
June 8 | Otago | 11–37 | Loss | Dunedin |
June 12 | Taranaki | 16–39 | Loss | New Plymouth |
June 16 | New Zealand XV | 6-56 | Loss | Hamilton |
June 18 | King Country | 22-15 | Win | Te Kuiti |
The teams in the "test" match:
June 16, 1991 at Rugby Park, Hamilton
New Zealand XV 56 (8G 2T) – USSR 6 (1PG 1DG)
New Zealand XV: E J Crossan; E Clarke, W K Maunsell, T D L Tagaloa; A F McCormick, J P Preston; J A Hewett; O M Brown, N J Hewitt, M R Allen, R M Brooke, D W Mayhew, M P Carter, W T Shelford (captain), W R Gordon
Tries: McCormick (2), Crossan (2), Maunsell (2), Tagaloa (2), Shelford, Carter
Conversions: Crossan (8)
Soviet Union: V Voropaev; A Zakarliuk, I Kuperman, A Kovalenko, I Mironov; S Boldakov, A Bychkov; E Kabylkin, S Molchenov (captain), R Bikbov, S Sergeev, E Ganiakhin, V Negodin, A Ogryzkov, A Tikhonov
Replacements used: Y Nikolaev, V Zykov
Penalty Goal: Boldakov
Dropped Goal: Boldakov
Referee: Mr D J Bishop
Soviet tour to England
In September, the USSR were guests of the RFU and played the Combined London Old Boys at Croxley Green (OMTs' ground) before meeting an England XV in a World Cup warm-up game on September 7, 1991 at Twickenham where they lost 53–0 to a full-strength non-cap XV side led by Will Carling.
Final games as CIS
Their last representative matches as a united Soviet side were during the 1991–92 season. A team labelled "CIS" fulfilled their remaining FIRA Championship fixtures against Italy, Spain, Romania and France A.
Russia has competed as a separate entity at the international level since 1992.
Notable players
200 Soviet players became
- B.P. Gavrilov(Б. П. Гаврилов)
- I.I. Kiziriia(И. И. Кизирия)
Successor teams
The rugby teams of the USSR's successor states have had varying success.
Initially, the former USSR competed under the
The most successful "successor" rugby team has been
As of 3 March 2008, however,
After the
ENC
The following successor teams are in the
- Armenia national rugby union team
- Azerbaijan national rugby union team
- Estonia national rugby union team
- Georgia national rugby union team
- Latvia national rugby union team
- Lithuania national rugby union team
- Moldova national rugby union team
- Russia national rugby union team
- Ukraine national rugby union team
Non-ENC
- Kazakhstan national rugby union team
- Kyrgyzstan national rugby union team
- Uzbekistan national rugby union team
References
- ^ Rugby union in Russia and USSR (in Russian)
- ^ International Rugby Board – Russia closing in on their rivals
- ^ Gallan, Daniel (1 March 2022). "World Rugby joins other sports bodies by suspending Russia and Belarus". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
- ^ "Rugby Europe Statement – Russia and Belarus Suspension". Rugby Europe. Retrieved 3 March 2022.