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Mexico national rugby union team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mexico
Shirt badge/Association crest
NicknameSerpientes (Snakes)
UnionMexican Rugby Federation
Head coachJeffrey CLarke
CaptainAndres Rodriguez
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current38 (as of 25 June 2025)
Highest37 (25 June 2025)
First international
 Mexico 18–22 Cayman Islands 
(1985)
Biggest win
 Mexico 105–7 Cayman Islands 
(31 August 2019)
Biggest defeat
 Brazil 76–5 Mexico 
(20 April 2013)
World Cup
Appearances0

The Mexico national rugby union team (Spanish: Selección nacional de rugby Mexico) represents Mexico men's international rugby union competitions, they entered the World Rugby Rankings in March 2012, ranked initially in joint 71st place with other new entrants Pakistan and the Philippines.

Mexico is one of the newest members of World Rugby, having only been participating consistently in international rugby since the late 2000s; before, the 6 games, including 2 that are not capped by the FMR. Mexico also fields a rugby sevens team, as well as female teams in both the main union game and the 7s.

The national side is ranked 38th in the world (as of February 2026).[1]

History

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Mexico played only four test matches before 2008. The National Team played Miami Rugby in November 1977.[2] Mexico's first test match was in 1985, an 18–22 loss against the Cayman Islands. This match was followed by 2 games against Colombia in 1996 (a 46-12 victory and a 10-10 draw), and two losses in 2001 and 2002 against Cayman Islands.[3]

2011 RWC qualifying

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See also: 2011 Rugby World Cup - Americas qualification

Mexico's first official test match, and first participation in Rugby World Cup qualifying, was in March 2008. In that match, Mexico secured a 47-7 victory over Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying. Mexico's record in qualifying was 2-2, finishing 6th place in Round 1A of the Americas qualification zone.

2015 RWC qualifying

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See also: 2015 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification

A record crowd for a rugby match in Mexico saw the home team dispatch Jamaica 68–14 in Mexico City in front of more than 2,000 vociferous fans at the Universidad Iberoamericana. This match opened their NACRA Caribbean Championship account,[4] and also doubled as the opening Rugby World Cup 2015 qualification match. However, Mexico lost its next qualifying match 13–46 against the Cayman Islands, ending its 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifying campaign.

2019 RWC qualifying

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See also: 2019 Rugby World Cup – Americas qualification

Mexico played qualifying matches for the 2019 World Cup during 2016. They won all three of their first-round Americas North (North Zone) group stage games (against the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and The Bahamas), and also won the first round final against South Zone winners, Guyana. As such, they were named champions of the 2016 Rugby Americas North Championship.

From here, they progressed to a one-off play-off game against the 2016 CONSUR "B" Rugby Championship, Colombia, which they lost 29-11, ending Mexico's qualifying campaign.

2025 RAN Champions

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Mexico beat Jamaica in the RAN semi-final 37-24 on May 3, 2025, and beat Trinidad and Tobago 45-14 on June 21, 2025. This was a historical win as Mexico was able to achieve 37th in World Rugby Rankings, the highest ever recorded ranking, and now able to quality against higher ranked South American and Europe teams.

Honors

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RAN Championship

RAN Cup

  • Champions: (1) 2014

Americas Rugby Challenge

  • Runners-up: (1) 2019
  • Third place: (1) 2018

Rankings

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Event Rank Date Ref
Highest ranking 37 June 2025
Current ranking 38 February 2026
Lowest ranking 75 2013 [5]
Initial ranking 71 March 2012 [6]

Record

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Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Mexico national XV at test level up until 8 November 2025, updated after the match with  Colombia.

Team Mat Won Lost Draw % For Aga Diff
Arizona Arizona State Sun Devils 1 1 0 0 100% 30 23 +7
 Bahamas 4 2 2 0 50% 101 61 +40
 Barbados 1 0 1 0 0% 20 21 -1
 Bermuda 3 2 1 0 66.67% 141 43 +98
 Brazil 2 0 2 0 0% 19 126 -107
 Cayman Islands 13 8 5 0 61.54% 372 259 +113
 Colombia 7 1 5 1 14.29% 140 243 -103
 Jamaica 3 3 0 0 100% 139 46 +83
 Paraguay 2 1 0 1 50% 71 72 -1
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1 1 0 0 100% 47 7 +40
 Turks and Caicos Islands 1 1 0 0 100% 96 0 +96
 Trinidad and Tobago 2 1 0 1 50% 61 47 +14
United States USA South 4 3 1 0 75% 134 113 +21
Total 44 24 19 1 54.55% 1451 1100 +351

Current squad

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Mexico squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup qualification match against Colombia.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ https://www.world.rugby/rankings
  2. ^ "Rugby Results". The Miami News. 8 Dec 1977. p. 7PS.
  3. ^ Mexico Test Matches, ESPN Scrum. Accessed 6 March 2016.
  4. ^ IRB, "Mexico off to flyer in RWC 2105 qualifying" Archived 2012-04-27 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Mexican rugby: Blooming from grassroots to international level | World Rugby".
  6. ^ "Rugby World Cup - Argentina 2023: March 2012". Archived from the original on 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  7. ^ "Third Concentration of Serpents". <Mexican Rugby Federation. 2012-04-28.
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