Ukraine's rugby team aims to end their winless streak and secure promotion to a higher division.
Following the last cycle, our team secured the last 6th place in the second most significant Trophy division. The primary goal for the new cycle will undoubtedly be to return to the second division.
Strong Representation in the National Team
The Ukrainian rugby championship has recently concluded, and the first match of the national team in the new 2024/25 European Championship season is just ahead. The team prepared for the game against Slovakia in Lviv, where 30 of the country's top rugby players gathered for a 5-day training camp. As a result of the camp, 20 players remained in the team to face the Slovak national team.
He is one of the best rugby players in Ukraine's history and has repeatedly been recognized as the top scorer in the Ukrainian championship.
Meanwhile, the head coach of the Ukrainian national team, Oleg Kvasnitsa, notes:
No Chances – in the Second Division
In the last tournament, the Ukrainian national team lost all five matches, failing to score a single point. Starting the tournament with a nominal home defeat against the Lithuanian team with a score of 14:32 (the match took place in the Croatian city of Makarska), the Ukrainians lost another nominal home game to the national team... of Croatia, which essentially played at home – 5:41. The nominal home match against the Czech Republic was held in the Czech town of Havířov, where the Ukrainians lost by a difference of "-30" – 18:48.
Only the last two matches were away. In April of this year, the Ukrainians lost to the Swedish team (24:36) and suffered a crushing defeat against the division winners, the Swiss national team – 0:68. Thus, Ukraine lost all five matches with an overall difference of 61:225 (-164), consequently relegating to the third most significant division.
Third Match in the Group
In our Group B of the Conference division, this will be the third game of the 2024/25 season. In the opening match of the group tournament on September 21, the Austrian national team defeated the Hungarian team away with a score of 39:12.
In turn, Hungary partially avenged itself in the match against Slovakia, concluding with a crushing victory – 51:16. However, the Hungarians were unable to surpass the Austrians in the standings. The teams have equal points, but the Austrian national team leads due to their victory in the head-to-head match.
Kyiv Dominates for the Second Year in a Row
Speaking about the Ukrainian championship in the Super League, it is noteworthy that for the second consecutive year, the Kyiv team has won the tournament. The Kyiv team won all four matches with a total points difference of 132-30 (+102). In particular, the capital team surpassed the Kharkiv region team and "Sokil" from Lviv. Once leaders of Ukrainian rugby, "Kredo-63" from Odesa finished only in fourth place, out of the prize-winning trio. This was the first time the team went without medals in several years. It is symbolic that the last chances for awards were lost by the Odesa team in a home game against the Kyiv team, which they lost 10:26. The "Podillia" (Khmelnytskyi) team also finished without medals, coming last in the tournament table among the five participating teams.
Even such a brief tournament (each participant played four matches) turned out to be incomplete. The "Podillia" rugby club was awarded a technical loss of 0:30 for not appearing in the match against the Kyiv team. Additionally, the team was deducted 2 points in the standings. Consequently, in the final table, the "Podillia" team has "-1" in the points column.
In the New Format
Returning to the European Championship, it is important to note that in the previous tournament format, which existed from the 2016/17 season, the strongest division included the six best teams from the Old World. Teams played in a round-robin system and, accordingly, conducted 10 matches over a two-year cycle. Since the 2022/23 season, the elite division has expanded to 8 teams, which are divided into two groups in the first stage. This group of eight also competes for World Cup qualifying spots from Europe. This division is referred to as the Championship.
Following that is the Trophy Division, where 6 teams compete in a round-robin format. Below the Trophy Division are Conference 1 and Conference 2. The Ukrainian national team ended up in Conference 1 after finishing last in the Trophy last cycle. The least significant division is the Development division, whose winner earns a spot in one of the zones of Conference 2.
Speaking of the Conferences, it is worth mentioning that both the first and second are divided into "North" and "South" zones, respectively, based on the geographical location of the participants. Thus, the opponents of the Ukrainian team in this tournament are the teams from Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria. Two of the three countries border Ukraine, and it is quite easy to reach Austria as well.
Where to Watch?
You can watch the match Slovakia – Ukraine on the website of the European Rugby Federation. However, registration on the portal is mandatory before viewing. The game will start at 15:00 Kyiv time.
Ukrainian National Team Roster
- Oleg Kosarev
- Narek Manukyan
- Maxim Dulia
- Sergey Chernyachenko
- Volodymyr Voytov
- Danylo Dyachenko
- Andriy Orin
- Denys Prymushenetskyi
- Yuriy Kolosovskyi
- Aziz Stepanenko
- Yevhen Davydov
- Oleg Vasyuchenko
- Bohdan Kachurovskyi
- Oleksandr Kharkevych
- Oleksandr Skorbach
- Dmytro Semerenko
- Yaroslav Davydov
- Denys Zakhlyvnyy
- Yevhen Checheta
- Oleksandr Pereli
- Yevhen Overchuk
- Vitaliy Kramarenko
- Oleksandr Shevchenko
- Dmytro Mokretsov
- Head Coach – Valeriy Kochanov
- Coaches – Oleg Kvasnitsa, Dmytro Kirsanov