From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Côte d'Ivoire rugby union team is one of the minor international teams in rugby union. They are also known as Les Éléphants (The Elephants). Cote d'Ivoire plays in the annual Africa Cup.
The sport is popular among school children, but the rugby union playing population in Côte d'Ivoire is still relatively small with only 10 clubs and around 11,000 registered senior players.
[edit] History
The Fédération Ivoirienne de Rugby was only formed in March 1990, the same month that it joined the International Rugby Board. They qualified for the World Cup the first time in 1995 and suffered defeats by Scotland, France and Tonga.
With a small player base, and starved of strong competition, the team has deteriorated in recent years. Recent defeats to Morocco mean they are ranked below the North African side. Their record in the World Cup has been poor, and they haven't managed a win. Their record defeat, 89-0 against Scotland in the 1995 tournament, led to some questioning the presence of the minor teams at the tournament. Côte d'Ivoire, however, played much better, the following match, losing to France by 54-18, with 2 tries scored. The final match with Tonga, lost by 29-11, in the 1995 World Cup saw a major tragedy, as Max Brito suffered a cervical spine injury that left him a quadriplegic.
The Ivorians achieved the qualification for the final stage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup finals, after a surprising 21-9 win over Morocco, in Casablanca.
[edit] Results summary
Their Test match record against all nations (listed alphabetically), updated to 2006-04-24, is as follows:
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
|
National rugby union teams |
|
| First tier |
|
|
| Second tier |
|
|
Third tier with
World Cup experience |
|
|
Third tier without
World Cup experience |
|
|
Defunct (without
World Cup experience) |
|
|
Zero tier
newly created teams |
|
|
Michel Giacomini
Zimbabwe 22 - 9 Côte d'Ivoire 
