The Hungary national rugby union team is governed by the

Hungarian Rugby Union The Hungarian Rugby Union ( hu, Magyar Rögbi Szövetség) is the governing body for rugby union in Hungary. It was founded in 1990 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Board in 1992. It organises the three leagues, the Extraliga, the ...

. They have yet to qualify for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

, although they have entered qualifiers for all the tournaments from the 1995 edition onwards. They compete annually in the

European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to: *UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup * Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (fi ...

, currently in Division 2C. The national side is ranked 68th in the world (as of 29 July 2019).

History

Hungary played their first ''official'' match against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

Érd Érd (; german: Hanselbeck; hr, Andzabeg) is a town in Pest County, Budapest metropolitan area, Hungary. It is a city with county rights. History The area has been inhabited since ancient times. Archaeological findings indicate that prehistoric ...

in 1990, losing 3–7, but they played a number of unofficial matches prior to this, mainly against a likewise unofficial

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

team, including a match in

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...

on 1 May 1983. Hungary first entered the qualifiers for the 1995 World Cup in 1993, being at the wrong end of an 8–67 scoreline against Israel. Things went better in the 1999 qualifying rounds, where they beat Lithuania and Luxembourg, but lost to Andorra and Sweden. In the 2003 qualifiers, they won against Andorra and Bulgaria, but lost to Bosnia, Yugoslavia (as Serbia was then still known), and Switzerland. The 2007 qualifying was their worst performance to date, losing all four matches played, including a 9–63 thumping by Spain.

Current squad

Squad to 2014 European Nations Cup – Division 2D. *Zoltan Heckel (C) *Gabor Biró *Roland Nagy *Dan Toth *Attila Jambor *Zoltan Koller *Gabor Bartus *Mate Toth *Attila Refi *Gergo Ban *Gareth Lloyd *Gregoire Collet *Achilles Gyurcsik *Tibor Krisko *Attila Prakter *Szabolcs Nagyhegyesi *Jung Szilárd *Viktor Madarasz *Szabolcs Pocskai *Karoly Suiogan *Janos Csniernik *Daniel Gelecsak *Laszlo Teisenhoffer *Jonathan Katona *Gabor Kendi

Strip

The badge on the shirt derives from the ''Csodaszarvas'', a mythological stag that led the ancient Hungarian people to the

Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only th ...

. In the Austria match of 1983, they played in presumably white jerseys with either a black or dark green hoop, black shorts, and either black or dark green socks with white tops. After the MRgSz was established, the team reverted to the flag colors of red, white, and green, with the current strip consisting of red shirts and shorts and green socks.

Grounds

Hungary plays its home games at the Budapest Rugby Center in

Kincsem Park Kincsem Park is a major horse racing venue in Budapest, Hungary. The 84-hectare park, named after the racehorse Kincsem, can accommodate thoroughbred racing and harness racing, and can also be configured as a concert venue. Although the track exper ...

. Most games, before the new stadium was built in 2019, used to be held in

Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Dan ...

Record

References

External links

Magyar Rögbi Szövetség

Hungary at RugbyData.com
– Statistics and results

A continuously expanding archive in chronological order. It is mostly in Hungarian, still easy to follow the relevant events – including the national side games. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hungary National Rugby Union Team European national rugby union teams Rugby union in Hungary Teams in European Nations Cup (rugby union)

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...