Soviet Union national rugby union team

Soviet Union

Union	Federaciya regbistov Soyuz Sovetskich
Team kit Change kit
First international
Czechoslovakia 4-18 Soviet Union (5 August 1974)
Largest win
Soviet Union 72-0 Sweden (1 July 1977)
Largest defeat
Soviet Union 7-40 Spain (10 May 1981)

The USSR national rugby union team was a sporting side that represented the Soviet Union in rugby union until the early 1990s.

History

See also: Rugby union in the Soviet Union, Rugby union in Georgia, and Rugby union in Russia

Although such tournaments as the Soviet Cup and the Soviet Championship existed, rugby never became a major sport in the USSR. Rugby union was the bigger of the two codes though - rugby league only really took off in the former Soviet Union after its collapse.

Rugby football was played in the Russian Empire as early as 1908, however the first official match, played in Moscow, did not take place until 1923. Because of the Russian Revolution, some Soviet/Russian players emigrated and/or ended up playing for foreign sides,^{[citation needed]} a notable example being Prince Alexander Obolensky (Александр Сергеевич Оболенский) who played for Oxford and England in the 1930s - he was the scorer of 2 tries on his England debut in their win over New Zealand in January 1936. His noble birth precluded him from playing in his home country and his family had fled the country when he was only a year old.

In 1934 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.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet team began to improve their performances, often coming second to France, or third to Romania in various European competitions, however they never managed to beat any major side.

The USSR were to be invited to the 1987 Rugby World Cup, they refused the invitation 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 1991 Rugby World Cup finals. The USSR successor, in 1992, was briefly the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The Soviet rugby team visited Ireland and the United States for the first time in 1990 [1][2].

The FIRA Trophy 1974-1997

Year	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

Notable players

200 Soviet players became Masters of Sport. Three notable ones are:

• B.P. Gavrilov (Б. П. Гаврилов)
• A.G. Grigor'iants (А. Г. Григорьянц)
• 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 Commonwealth of Independent States banner, but this itself terminated in 1992. It had played four matches.

The most successful "successor" rugby team has been Georgia, which competed in the 2003 Rugby World Cup and in the 2007. They had a respectable performance against Ireland and defeated Namibia 30–0. The Rugby World Cup, coincidentally, got going at around the point that the Soviet Union was disintegrating - no other ex-Soviet team other than Georgia had ever qualified until 2011 when Russia qualified, and the early World Cups were also smaller tournaments. The Georgia Rugby Union was founded in 1964, but did not compete as a national team during the Soviet Era.

As of 3 March 2008, however, Russia's form had improved greatly, being placed at 17th position in the world rankings, ahead of Portugal, the USA, Japan, and coming one point behind Romania. None of these other teams have ever been in the World Cup.

ENC

The following successor teams are in the European Nations Cup:

• Armenia national rugby union team
• Azerbaijan 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

• Estonia national rugby union team
• Kazakhstan national rugby union team
• Kyrgyzstan national rugby union team
• Uzbekistan national rugby union team