Austria national rugby union team

The Austria national rugby union team is a third tier rugby union playing nation. They began playing international rugby in the early 1990s. Thus far, Austria has not made an appearance at any of the World Cups.

Austria
Shirt badge/Association crest
NicknameSteinböcke
UnionAustrian Rugby Federation
Head coachKurt Martin
CaptainRobert Schneider
First colours
Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current87 (as of 30 March 2023)
Highest85 (23 November 2020)
Lowest88 (29 July 2019)
First international
 Hungary 23–9 Austria 
(3 May 1992[1])
Biggest win
 Austria 95–3 Kosovo 
(22 April 2023)
Biggest defeat
 Austria 0–78 Ukraine 
(14 May 1994)

The national side is ranked 87th in the world, as of 16 January 2023.[2]

History

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Austria played their first official international on 3 May 1992 against Hungary, losing 23 points to nine. Austria had another fixture against Hungary that year, it was the first home game, which they lost 5:3, as well as two games against Slovenia. Austria's first win came against Slovenia on 21 November 1992, winning 9:5. Austria played nations such as Croatia and Ukraine as well as regulars Slovenia.

From 1996 on Austria began winning more games, and only lost a few sporadic matches in the late 1990s, as they were now beating the European sides that had beaten them in the early 1990s. During the 2000s Austria were now playing a larger variety of nations. After not winning one game in 2002, Austria went on to win every fixture in 2004, creating an undefeated streak which was broken by Denmark in 2005.

Current squad

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Squad for opening 2023-24 Rugby Europe Conference match against Hungary.

  • Caps & age not updated.
  • Head coach: Kurt Martin

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province
Adi Prapsilo Prop {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Moritz Schwab Hooker {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Omar El Agrebi Prop {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   Vienna Celtic RFC
Alexander Bercovici Lock {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Max Schwab Lock {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Georg Leutgöb Flanker {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Linz
Julian Tröndle Flanker {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Graz
Robert Schneider Number 8 {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Fabian Wolfram Scrum-half {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Peter Morris Fly-half {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Julian Terler Wing {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Alexander Ganzberger Centre {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Linz
Benjamin Preclik Centre {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Tobias Böhm Wing {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Max Karpeles Fullback {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Paul Hruschka Prop {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Stefan Pauser ?? {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   Wombats RC
Vincent Ritzberger Lock {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Alexander Radomirov ?? {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Fabian Unterlercher ?? {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Michael Hehenberger ?? {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}
Samuel Schönauer Scrum-half {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   RC Donau
Clemens Mostbeck ?? {{{age}}} {{{caps}}}   Vienna Celtic RFC

Record

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Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by the Austria national XV at test level up until 21 September 2024:

Against Played Won Lost Drawn Win percentage
  Andorra 2 0 2 0 0%
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 6 0 0 100%
  Bulgaria 3 2 1 0 66.67%
  Croatia 4 0 4 0 0%
  Denmark 6 1 5 0 16.67%
  Finland 1 0 1 0 0%
  Germany 1 0 1 0 0%
  Hungary 13 5 8 0 38.46%
  Israel 4 1 3 0 25%
  Latvia 2 0 2 0 0%
  Lithuania 4 1 3 0 25%
  Luxembourg 5 2 3 0 40%
  Malta 1 0 1 0 0%
  Moldova 2 1 1 0 50%
  Norway 10 4 5 1 40%
  Serbia 6 2 4 0 33.33%
  Slovenia 19 7 12 0 36.84%
  Sweden 2 0 2 0 0%
   Switzerland 3 0 3 0 0%
  Turkey 1 1 0 0 100%
  Ukraine 2 0 2 0 0%
Total 97 33 63 1 34.02%

Coaches

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Name Years
Didier Louvat 2004-2007[3]
Gael Mouysset 2007–'2013[3]

References

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  1. ^ http://www.rugby-austria.at/content/deutsch/nationalteam.spielplan.php Archived 2013-03-29 at the Wayback Machine (in German)
  2. ^ "Men's Rankings | World Rugby". Archived from the original on 2019-08-18. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  3. ^ a b "Rugby Austria -". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-04-20. (in German)
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