Luxembourg national rugby union team

Luxembourg Rugby Federation

Union	Fédération Luxembourgeoise de rugby
Ground(s)	Stade Boy Konen Cessange and Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City
Coach(es)	Marty Davis (2003- ) Jon Flynn
Captain(s)	Saman Rezapour (2012)
Most caps	Nigel Shaplin (42)
Top scorer	Gilles Caviglia (288)
Most tries	Steve Knowles (8)
Team kit
First international
Belgium 28 – 6 Luxembourg (3 May 1975)
Largest win
Luxembourg 78 – 12 Norway (15 April 2000)
Largest defeat
Luxembourg 3 – 116 Sweden (5 May 2001)
Official website
www.rugby.lu

The Luxembourg national rugby union team (FLR) represents Luxembourg at rugby union. Luxembourg is a minor team, and is ranked as a third tier nation. The team participates in the annual FIRA-AER European Nations Cup Division 2D.

Luxembourg has been a member of FIRA since 1976, two years after the founding of Luxembourg Rugby Federation (French: Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Rugby (FLR)). The Grand Duchy has participated several times in the FIRA championships and, despite the small size, has honourably acquitted itself. Luxembourg has also been a member of the International Rugby Board since 1991.

The Luxembourg rugby team is the only national sports team to have been three times champions of their group in a European competition. In 1995, more than 20 points scored against Slovenia at Cessange and more than 20 points scored in Split against Croatia and finally an excellent draw against Andorra in Luxembourg enabled them to be champions of their group. In 1997 they won the Bronze Cup with wins against Bosnia, Bulgaria and Monaco. Luxembourg has in their past encounter recorded a 10-10 draw against Georgia, but the best performance to date was a“Grand Slam” in 2004 in FIRA-AER European Cup division 3B.

National clubs

The Rugby Club Luxembourg was founded in May 1973 by a group of expatriates working in the Grand Duchy. Several of the founders still live in Luxembourg and contribute one way or another to the sport. The club played its first competitive game against US Castillionnaise in September 1973. Up until 1995, the club played in the Alsace-Lorraine regional league. In that year, the team joined the Belgian second division, which it belonged to until 1998, when it earned promotion to the first division. In 2001, the club decided to return to the French league system, again playing regionally in Alsace-Lorraine. It won its division in 2008 but, after an invitation to play in Germany, decided to join the German league system in 2009.

De Rugby Club Walferdange was founded in 1990. In 2001, after 10 years in the Belgian League they finished top of the third division and champion during the 2002/03 season. In its first season in the second division, the club was relegated back to the third Division. The club's objective having gone through a rebuilding phase, is to return to the Belgian 2nd division and remain there.

The Richard Mertens Club is a member of the European Community sports clubs (French: Cercle Sportif des Communautés Européennes) and caters to children from Under 7s up to Under 19s, its goal being to promote the game of rugby in Luxembourg and act as a feeder club for the two senior clubs of Luxembourg with any talented players. Player retention remains a concern for Luxembourgish rugby with most of such players stopping the sport after school for various reasons, even if they remain in Luxembourg. Despite this, the school has had some success stories since its inception with a few of its past players having gone on to play for well known university and club sides, or having gone on to represent Luxembourg at the senior level.

Current Squad

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

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province Marcus Adam Hooker 7 April 1954 1 Belsize Matais Garis-Polak Hooker 27 July 1992 2 none Saman Rezapour Prop 5 January 1990 19 Waunarlwydd RFC Kim Zimmer Prop 9 September 1992 8 De Renert Bob Wagner Prop 22 February 1992 1 Vienna Johan Barnard Prop 21 February 1989 2 RCL Julien Da Col Lock 15 August 1986 25 De Renert Scott McKinlay Lock 11 April 1983 20 RCL Tim Seite Lock 29 November 1980 11 De Renert Vincent Giffard Flanker 25 April 1984 7 Annecy Nigel Sharplin Flanker 16 February 1976 42 RCL Jan Louw Number 8 25 June 1978 4 none Jason Limpach Number 8 12 April 1994 2 CSCE William Dennis Scrum-half 21 March 1994 1 CSCE Damien Bessieres Scrum-half 5 October 1984 8 RCL Bertrand Cohan-Sabban Fly-half 19 January 1981 3 none Tertius Barnard Centre 6 February 1991 2 Old Scouts Yared Ketema Centre 23 December 1992 6 Rosslyn Christopher Rossa Wing 24 June 1994 1 CSCE Ciaran Keane Fly-half 24 June 1994 7 Edge Hill University Robin Dex Wing 21 September 1990 6 RCL Philippe Vimond Wing 13 September 1983 11 RCL Adrien Timmermans Fullback 14 April 1989 14 RCL Samuel Deasy Back 2 July 1990 2 Aberdeen Uni 2012-2014 ENC Division 2D Season 2012-13 Table Place Nation Games Points Bonus points Table points played won drawn lost for against difference 1  Luxembourg (95) 4 3 0 1 74 62 +12 0 12 2  Norway (93) 4 2 0 2 65 48 +17 3 11 3  Bosnia and Herzegovina (87) 4 2 0 2 78 71 +7 2 10 4  Greece (NR) 4 2 0 2 61 64 -3 1 9 5  Finland (96) 4 1 0 3 45 78 -33 2 6 Pre-tournament rankings in parentheses. NR=No ranking Games[1] 2012-13 6 October 2012 Finland  14 - 16  Luxembourg Helsinki, Finland   Try: Mikko Luopio (56'), Andras Devenyi (76') Con: Mikko Luopio, Antti Cammi IRB Team List Report Try: Philippe Vimond (49') Con: Yared Ketema Pen: Yared Ketema 2 (26', 46'), James Harris (40') Cards: Jason Limpach 28' to 38' Referee: Michael Vestorp 20 October 2012 Norway  32 - 3  Finland Bislett Stadion, Oslo, Norway   Try: Alex Deissner 2 (21', 42'), Finn James Gormley (38'), Thierry Davy (59'), James Buncle (79') Con: Kristoffer Borsheim 2 Pen: Kristoffer Borsheim (25') Report Pen: Antti Lammi (13') Referee: Kacper Michalkiewicz 3 November 2012 Norway  11 - 9  Bosnia and Herzegovina Fana Stadion, Bergen, Norway   Try: Kim-Robin Petterson (66') Pen: Kristoffer Borsheim 2 (59', 80'+2') Team Sheet Pen: Armin Vehabovic 2 (33', 44') Drop: Armin Vehabovic (15') Referee: Ramonas Grumbinas 10 November 2012 Luxembourg [2] 15 - 8  Norway Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg, Luxembourg   Try: Adrien Timmermans (38') [2], Philippe Vimond (52'), Vincent Giffard (63') IRB Team List Team Sheet Try: Kristoffer Borsheim (71') Pen: Kristoffer Borsheim (60') Attendance: 700 Referee: Christophe Secat 17 November 2012 Greece  22 - 17  Bosnia and Herzegovina Thessaloniki, Greece   Try: Platon Moysiadis (40') Con: Platon Moysiadis Pen: Quram Kizikurashrili 4 (2', 20', 23', 66'), Konstantino Meidinger (75') Team Sheet Try: Senad Turčinović 2 (5', 55'), Sabahudin Subašić (35') Con: Sabahudin Subašić Cards: Senad Turčinović 61' to 71' Referee: Afonso Nogueira 30 March 2013 Greece  11 - 13  Finland Dasos Haidariou Municipal Stadium, Athens, Greece   Try: Quram Kizikurashrili (13') Pen: Quram Kizikurashrili 2 (55', 71') Cards: Grigol Chatzis 49' to 59' Team Sheet Try: Lasse Sariola (27'), Joakim Grader (38') Pen: Jussi Viljanen (48') Attendance: 300 Referee: Csaba Priskin 13 April 2013 Bosnia and Herzegovina  33 - 23  Luxembourg   13 April 2013 Greece  21 - 14  Norway   20 April 2013 Luxembourg  20 - 7  Greece   20 April 2013 Bosnia and Herzegovina  19 - 15  Finland   Finland v Luxembourg 6 October 2012 Finland  14 - 16  Luxembourg Try: Mikko Luopio (56'), Andras Devenyi (76') Con: Mikko Luopio, Antti Cammi IRB Team List Report Try: Philippe Vimond (49') Con: Yared Ketema Pen: Yared Ketema 2 (26', 46'), James Harris (40') Helsinki, Finland Referee: Michael Vestorp Luxembourg v Norway 10 November 2012 15:00  Luxembourg[3] 15 – 8  Norway Try: Adrien Timmermans m[3] Philippe Vimond m Vincent Giffard m Teamsheet Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Attendance: 700 Referee: Christophe Secat Luxembourg FB 15 Adrien Timmersman RW 14 Philippe Vimond OC 13 Yared Ketema IC 12 Tertius Barnard  79' LW 11 Robin Dex FH 10 Bertrand Cohan-Sabban SH 9 William Dennis  79' N8 8 Jan Louw  75' OF 7 Nigel Sharplin BF 6 Vincent Giffard RL 5 Scott McKinlay  26' LL 4 Julien Da Col TP 3 Kim Zimmer  77' HK 2 Adam Marcus  62' LP 1 Saman Rezapour (c) Replacements: PR 16 Bob Wagner HK 17 Matais Garcia-Polak  62' PR 18 Johan Barnard  77' LK 19 Tim Seite  26' N8 20 Jason Limpach  75' SH 21 Damien Bessieres  79' BK 22 Samuel Deasy WG 23 Christopher Rossa  79' Coach: Marty Davis Season 2013-2014 Table Place Nation Games Points Table points played won drawn lost Bonus for against difference 1  Bosnia and Herzegovina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 2  Finland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 3  Greece 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 4  Luxembourg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 5  Norway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 +0 0 Games TBA Statistics Test Record[4] Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn % Won  Andorra 5 1 3 1 20%  Armenia 1 0 1 0 0%  Austria 4 2 2 0 50%  Azerbaijan 1 1 0 0 100%  Belgium 4 0 4 0 0%  Bermuda 1 0 1 0 0%  Bosnia and Herzegovina 7 6 1 0 86%  Bulgaria 9 2 7 0 23%  Croatia 2 1 1 0 50%  Cyprus 2 0 2 0 0%  Denmark 2 0 2 0 0%  East Germany 1 1 0 0 100%  Finland 7 6 1 0 86%  Georgia 1 0 0 1 0%  Germany 2 0 2 0 0%  Greece 4 1 3 0 25%  Hungary 2 0 2 0 0%  Israel 8 3 5 0 38%  Latvia 2 0 2 0 0%  Lithuania 5 2 3 0 40%  Malta 1 0 1 0 0%  Moldova 1 0 1 0 0%  Monaco 2 1 0 1 50%  Norway 4 3 1 0 75%  Slovenia 3 1 2 0 33%  Sweden 3 0 3 0 0%   Switzerland 4 0 4 0 0%  Tunisia 1 0 1 0 0%  Yugoslavia 1 0 1 0 0% Total 90 31 56 3 34.44 10 Most Appearances Rank Player Caps 1 Nigel Sharplin 44 2 Gilles Caviglia 37 3 Arnaud Tribellini 35 4 Stuart Kelly 33 5 Ruadhri Guilfoyle 31 6 Zelito Neves Dos Santos 30 7 Christophe Hoffmann 29 8= Joe Lister 27 8= Andy Thompson 27 10 Willy Lafaysse 26 15 Top Scorers Rank Player Pts. 1 Gilles Caviglia 288 pts. 2 Jonathan Harris 65 pts. 3 Steve Knowles 63 pts. 4 Graham Cope 61 pts. 5 Guilfoyle Ruadhri 38 pts. 6 Warren Young 35 pts. 7 Ciaran Keane 34 pts. 8 Bertrand Cohen-Sabban 31 pts. 9 Tony Whiteman 27 pts. 10= Simon Williams 25 pts. 10= Alex Goodhew 25 pts. 10= Anthony Isturis 25 pts. 11= Nigel Sharplin 20 pts. 11= Willy Lafaysse 20 pts. 12= Stefan Focas 18 pts. 12= Alan Dunn 18 pts. See also Luxembourg Rugby Federation Rugby union in Luxembourg Luxembourg women's national rugby union team Clubs Rugby Club Luxembourg Rugby Club Walferdange References "ENC 2D 1st Leg". FIRA-AER. Retrieved 2012-10-03. FIRA Match sheet shows incorrectly that Tertius Barnard scored. FIRA match report shows incorrectly that Tertius Barnard scored the first try. Checking Stats on Scrum.com they have one match Lux v Sui in 1995 that is not in these figures as FLR can not identify External links Luxembourg rugby union stats from ESPN - scrum.com