The Cyprus national rugby union team is nicknamed ‘’The Mighty Mouflons’’ after a kind of horned sheep which is also the republic's national animal. They have won 28 of their 30 games and hold the world record for the most consecutive international rugby union wins with 24, which was ended on 15 November 2014 as they lost to

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. They were controversially disqualified from the knock-out phase of the 2015 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, as they did not meet the necessary membership criteria according to the

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History

The first international game of the Cyprus national rugby union team took place on 24 March 2007 against Greece in Paphos. The Cypriot XV won the game by 39-3 in front of 2,500 fans. In October and November 2007, Cyprus beat

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

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and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

to win the 2006–08 European Nations Cup Division 3D, in their first year on the international scene. However, they lost the play-off game for promotion to Division 3C for the 2008–10 European Nations Cup on 6 September 2008 against

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by a score of 23-14. This was Cyprus' only loss in international rugby for 6 years. The following season, Cyprus had another attempt to be promoted as they played

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and

in a round-robin home-and-away basis. They won every game scoring a total of 187 points and conceding only 17. They gained automatic promotion to Division 3B, although, for the following season, the divisions had changed numbers, so instead of moving to Division 3B, they were in fact in Division 2D. The 2010–12 European Nations Cup saw Cyprus play in Division 2D (the lowest level of the second division) against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

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. They won all their games for the second consecutive year increasing their win success to 15 and making it two consecutive seasons and nearly four years unbeaten. They scored 4 or more tries in each of their games during the 2010–2012 season, including an emphatic 94–3 win over

, and were promoted to Division 2C for 2012–2014. Their 2012–14 European Nations Cup Division 2B campaign kicked off in style with a 54–20 win over

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. They followed that win with consecutive home and away wins against

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and

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and also a home win over

. On 16 March 2013 ahead of their match against Bulgaria, Cyprus were aware of a potential world record of 18 games unbeaten which would overtake the official record of 17 games originally held by both

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(between 1965 and 1969 and again between 2013 and 2014),

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(between 1997 and 1998) and

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(between 2006 and 2010). They won the match comfortably 79–10. A month later, Cyprus were informed that they would not be eligible to qualify for the

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and were disqualified by the

due to 'not meeting the necessary membership criteria'. Cyprus played in Division 2B for the 2014–16 European Nations Cup, where they were grouped with

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and

Motto

The Cyprus Rugby Federation has adopted as its motto the famous Spartan phrase: Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, translating as "either with this or upon this", an idiom that effectively means victory or death. The origin of the motto is ancient Sparta and "this" refers to the shield. Spartans killed in battle were carried home on the shield, while those returning alive and victorious from battle would still have it. A soldier fleeing the battle would have to drop the shield.

Kit

Home Away

Records

*World record for most consecutive international rugby union wins (24), which was ended by a 39-20 loss to

on 15 November 2014. *World Record for most consecutive international rugby union wins by greater than a converted try (14). *World Record for most consecutive international rugby union wins by scoring 4 or more tries (11). *Won 11 away games in a row. *Won their last 17 home games. *Won 10 consecutive games by 30+ points, which was ended by a 16-15 victory over

. *World Record for largest win in début match (39–3 v Greece in March 2007). *Scored 1239 points and only conceded 296. *26 of their 28 wins were won by more than a converted try. *Scored a try in every game they have played (30).

Home grounds

Until March 2010, Cyprus did not have a National Stadium, due to the poor recognition of the government they did not supply a stadium. Cyprus' first international was played in Paphos at Kiniras Sports ground. Then a further game at the same ground in the ENC 3D tournament against Slovakia. They then moved to the British Army base playing their games at Happy Valley in Episkopi. Now the national stadium has been recognised as Pafiako Stadium which is situated in the centre of

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

. It holds a capacity of 10,000.

International record

Since their first match in 2007, Cyprus have lost only 15 matches out of Fifty. They recorded their first win over Malta on 23 November by 18 to 16 to celebrate their 50th International, which now gives them a 70% winning ratio. Cyprus are not a full member of the International Rugby Board, so none of their international matches count towards the IRB World Rankings.

Overall

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Cyprus national XV at test level up until 5 April 2025, updated after match with .

Coaches

Current squad

The following players formed the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. *Known Caps updated after match with

. Staff *Head Coach - Andrew Barnett *Coach - Alexander Zavallis Roebuck *Team Manager - Peter Morrish *Physio - Theo Lenos

Recent call ups

*Vaki Antoniou
Maidstone FC
*Yiannis Loizia *Marios Zakakiotis *Stevie Awah *Will Booth *Robert Yiannakou - East London RFC *Giovanni Francesco Dall'Amico - Limassol Crusaders *Luke Peters - Portsmouth RFC *Pantelis Stylianou - Sale FC *Olly Yarrow - Stirling County RFC *Ben Yarrow - Stirling County RFC *Alex Pantechis- Stockport RUFC *Alex Thompson

References

External links

Cyprus Rugby FederationPaphos Tigers - Member of Cyprus Rugby Federation

Limassol Crusaders RFC Cyprus university RFC
{{National rugby teams Rugby European national rugby union teams Rugby union in Cyprus Teams in European Nations Cup (rugby union)