 | |||
| Union | Cyprus Rugby Federation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Mighty Mouflons | ||
| Emblem | Mouflon | ||
| Ground(s) | Stelios Kyriakides Stadium,Paphos | ||
| President | Constantinos Constantinides | ||
| Coach | Andrew Binikos | ||
| Captain | Billy Cosma | ||
| Mostcaps | Georgios Agathokleous | ||
| Top scorer | Marcus Holden (470) | ||
| Most tries | Georgios Agathokleous (30) | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Cyprus 39–3Greece  (24 March 2007) | |||
| Largest win | |||
 Bulgaria 3–94Cyprus (28 May 2012) | |||
| Largest defeat | |||
 Latvia 31–3Cyprus (7 November 2015)  Malta 31 – 3Cyprus (29 October 2016) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 0 | ||
TheCyprus national rugby union team is nicknamed ‘’The Mighty Mouflons’’ after a native wildhorned sheep which is also the republic's national animal.[1] Cyprus won 28 of their first 30 games from 2007–2015 and hold the world record for the most consecutive international men's rugby union tests wins with 24, which ended on 15 November 2014 in a lossLatvia.[2] They were controversially disqualified from the knock-out phase of the2015 Rugby World Cup Qualifiers, as they did not meet the necessary membership criteria according to theInternational Rugby Board.[3][4]
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 setting a world record for largest win in début match.
In October and November 2007, Cyprus beatAzerbaijan,Monaco andSlovakia to win the2006–08 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 the2008–10 European Nations Cup on 6 September 2008 againstIsrael by a score of 23–14. This would be Cyprus' only loss in international rugby for the next six years.
The following season, Cyprus had another attempt to be promoted as they playedBosnia and Herzegovina,Azerbaijan andMonaco 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.
The2010–12 European Nations Cup saw Cyprus play in Division 2D (the lowest level of the second division) againstBulgaria,Finland,Greece andLuxembourg. 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 overBulgaria, and were promoted to Division 2C for 2012–2014.
Their2012–14 European Nations Cup Division 2B campaign kicked off in style with a 54–20 win overAustria. They followed that win with consecutive home and away wins againstSlovenia,Bulgaria andHungary and also a home win overAustria. 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 men's official record of 17 games originally held by bothNew Zealand (between 1965 and 1969 and again between 2013 and 2014),South Africa (between 1997 and 1998) andLithuania (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 the2015 Rugby World Cup and were disqualified by theInternational Rugby Board due to 'not meeting the necessary membership criteria'.[3]
Cyprus played in Division 2B for the2014–16 European Nations Cup, where they were grouped withLithuania,Latvia,Andorra andHungary.
Listed below are several world records and achievements Cyprus set during their world record24 match winning streak:
TheCyprus 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.
Home
Away
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 asPafiako Stadium which is situated in the centre ofPaphos. It holds a capacity of 10,000.
| Ground | Record | Recent Win | Team | Recent Draw | Recent Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pafiako Stadium,Paphos | 77,8% | 2018 |  Slovenia | N/A | 6 May 2017 |
| Happy Valley,Episkopi | 100% | 2009 |  Slovakia | N/A | N/A |
| Kiniras Sports Ground,Paphos | 100% | 2007 | Slovakia | N/A | N/A |
Cyprus only lost 15 out their first fifty test matches. They recorded their first win over Malta on 23 November by 18–16 to celebrate their 50th international.
Cyprus are not a full member of the International Rugby Board, so none of their international matches count towards theIRB World Rankings.
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Cyprus national XV at test level up until15 November 2025, updated after match with Malta.
| Against | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | Points for | Points against | Points diff | % Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andorra | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 76 | 75 | +1 | 25% |
 Austria | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 118 | 33 | +85 | 100% |
 Azerbaijan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 125 | 3 | +122 | 100% |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 28 | +18 | 100% |
| Bulgaria | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 309 | 53 | +256 | 100% |
 Croatia | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 79 | 129 | –50 | 0% |
 Finland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 122 | 15 | +107 | 100% |
| Greece | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 144 | 21 | +123 | 100% |
 Hungary | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 94 | 46 | +48 | 100% |
 Israel | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 118 | 153 | –35 | 0% |
| Latvia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 70 | –47 | 0% |
 Lithuania | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 73 | –38 | 0% |
 Luxembourg | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 7 | +91 | 100% |
| Malta | 10 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 135 | 284 | –159 | 10% |
 Monaco | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 87 | 18 | +69 | 100% |
 Serbia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 35 | –18 | 0% |
| Slovakia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 109 | 21 | +88 | 100% |
| Slovenia | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 268 | 30 | +238 | 100% |
| Total | 66 | 39 | 27 | 0 | 1819 | 977 | +842 | 59.09% |
| Name | Years | Tests | Won | Drew | Lost | Win percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niall Doherty | 2007–2008 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 100% |
| Paul Shanks | 2008–2014 | 24 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 96% |
| Phil Llewellyn | 2014–2015 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 50% |
| Paul Shanks | 2015–2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Alexander Zavallis | 2015–2015 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% |
| Andrew Binikos | 2016–2025 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 36% |
| Andrew Barnett | 2018–2025 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 33% |
The following players formed the squad for the2024–25 Rugby Europe Conference match againstAndorra.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined byWorld Rugby.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Cosma | Prop | (1997-12-20)20 December 1997 (age 27) |  Eton Manor | |
| Pantelis Stylianou | Hooker | (2002-04-17)17 April 2002 (age 23) | CS Stags | |
| Stylianos Panagiotou | Prop | (1996-11-28)28 November 1996 (age 28) | Doncaster Phoenix | |
| Billy Cosma (c) | Lock | (1930-01-01)1 January 1930 (age 95) |  Epping | |
| Marcus Kay | Lock | (2003-07-05)5 July 2003 (age 22) | University of Leeds | |
| Joe Ridgewell | Flanker | Manchester RFC | ||
| Marko Mladenovic | Flanker | (1990-12-24)24 December 1990 (age 34) | 12 | Murrayfield Wanderers FC |
| Giovanni Dall'Amico | Number 8 | (1997-02-07)7 February 1997 (age 28) | ||
| William Yiannakou | Scrum-half | (1993-11-28)28 November 1993 (age 31) | ||
| Marcus Holden | Fly-half | (1989-08-22)22 August 1989 (age 36) | 30 | Stirling County |
| Joakim Antoniou | Wing | (1986-06-04)4 June 1986 (age 39) | Henley Hawks | |
| George Agathocleous | Centre | (1982-01-23)23 January 1982 (age 43) | 22 | Paphos Tigers |
| Benjamin Yarrow | Centre | (2003-01-31)31 January 2003 (age 22) | Stirling County | |
| Vaki Antoniou | Wing | (2000-05-12)12 May 2000 (age 25) | Charlton Park RFC | |
| Dominic Georgiou | Fullback | (1988-06-24)24 June 1988 (age 37) | Old Brodleians | |
| Dimitri Grigoriou | Hooker | (1995-11-28)28 November 1995 (age 29) | ||
| Farhad Fayaz | Prop | (2003-09-03)3 September 2003 (age 22) | University of Bath | |
| Stylianos Panagiotou | Prop | (1996-11-28)28 November 1996 (age 28) | Doncaster Phoenix | |
| James Hebbard | Back row | (1996-11-19)19 November 1996 (age 29) | ||
| Robert Yiannakou | Back row | (1996-10-03)3 October 1996 (age 29) | ||
| George Shaouna | Wing | (1999-07-05)5 July 1999 (age 26) | ||
| Philippos Pouroullis | Wing | (1987-09-07)7 September 1987 (age 38) | ||
| Leslie Mabaleka | Scrum-half | (1999-06-29)29 June 1999 (age 26) |
Staff