The Ukraine national rugby union team () represents Ukraine in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed the Cossacks (Козаки, Kozaky), it is one of the tier 3 teams in Europe that currently compete in the second division of the Rugby Europe International Championships in the Rugby Europe Trophy, a competition which is just below the Rugby Europe Championship where the top 6 countries in Europe (apart from the teams in the Six Nations) compete. They are yet to participate in any Rugby World Cup.
History
Ukraine made their international debut in 1991 against Georgia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, losing the close game 15-19. The two nations played again three days later, where Georgia won again with the score of 6-0. The following year Ukraine met Georgia once more for a two match series, losing both matches. In their first match of 1993, they defeated Hungary 41-3 for their first ever win since their independence. This was followed by another three wins in succession, against Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. This streak would however end in 1994 with a loss to Denmark.
In 1996 Ukraine defeated Latvia 19-3; the match would be the start of a nine match winning streak) which would be the longest thus far. The wins carried on until 1998, where they lost to the Netherlands 13-35. The late 1990s, Ukraine saw mixed results and defeated teams like Poland and the Czech Republic, but they lost games to the likes of their neighbours Russia, Georgia and Romania.
Ukraine played in the first division of 2005-06 European Nations Cup, the tournament where the best teams in Europe outside of the Six Nations and the tournament that also served as a qualifier for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. Ukraine lost all ten of their fixtures and were relegated to Division 2A while within the qualifiers, the bottom three teams went on to Round 4 of the European World Cup qualifiers, so Ukraine would find their selves playing against Russia twice to determine who goes through to the next round of the qualifiers. Ukraine lost both games by the scores 11-25 and 37-17.
Record
World Cup World Cup recordWorld Cup Qualification recordYearRound 1987Part of USSR: Not an independent countryPart of USSR: Not an independent country 1991Part of USSR: Not an independent countryPart of USSR: Not an independent country 1995did not enterdid not enter 1999did not qualify8602274108 2003430110054 2007120012105618 201111605177219 201510505227227 2019500552215 2023Automatically eliminatedTotal0/800000050200309351441
European Competitions Season Division2000European Nations Cup Second Division4103 54 135 -81 6 3rd2000-01European Nations Cup Second Division5401 65 61 +4 13 2nd2002-04European Nations Cup Second Division Pool A8710 200 74 +126 23 1st2004-06European Nations Cup First Division100010 77 556 -479 10 6th2006-08European Nations Cup Second Division 2A8305 117 128 -11 14 4th2008-10European Nations Cup Second Division 2A8503 140 109 +31 18 1st2010-12European Nations Cup First Division 1A10109 124 442 -318 5 6th2012-14European Nations Cup First Division 1B10505 227 227 0 24 3rd2014-16European Nations Cup First Division 1B10802 244 165 +79 36 2nd2016-17Rugby Europe Trophy5005 52 215 -163 0 6th2017-18Rugby Europe Conference 1 North4211 92 63 +29 12 2nd2018-19Rugby Europe Conference 1 North4301 113 29 +84 14 1st2019-20Rugby Europe Trophy5221 60 74 -19 14 3rd2021-22*Rugby Europe Trophy5104 108 177 -69 5 5th2022-23Rugby Europe Trophy4202 117 135 -18 9 2nd2023-24Rugby Europe Trophy5005 61 225 -164 0 6th
Overall
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Ukraine national XV at test level up until 26 September 2026, updated after match with .
Opponent Played Won Lost Drawn % Won 2 2 0 0 % 8 4 4 0 % 1 1 0 0 % 6 4 2 0 % 10 4 6 0 % 3 2 1 0 % 9 0 9 0 0% 1 0 1 0 0% 8 2 5 1 % 4 3 0 1 % 1 1 0 0 % 3 2 1 0 % 8 5 3 0 % 1 1 0 0 % 12 5 7 0 % 9 6 3 0 % 14 11 3 0 % 5 1 4 0 % 7 0 7 0 0% 9 0 9 0 0% 1 1 0 0 % 1 1 0 0 % 2 0 2 0 0% 10 9 1 0 % 5 2 3 0 % 2 2 0 0 100% 1 1 0 0 % Total 143 70 71 2 %
Recent Matches Matches
Current Players The following players were selected for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Trophy match against Lithuania.
Head Coach: Valerii Kochanov
Caps updated:
Recent call-ups The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months. PlayerPosDate of birth (age)CapsClubLatest call-up Vitalii Kramarenko Prop Budowlani Łódź v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Ruslan Radchuk Lock 29 November 1986 (age 34) RC Kredo-63 v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Daniil Hapon Scrum-half 18 November 2001 (age 19) SC Sokil v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Oleh Zarovnyi Fullback 19 September 2002 (age 19) Odesa National Team v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Dmytro Mokretsov 24 March 1988 (33) Ogniwo Sopot v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Oleksandr Khomenko 28 November 1990 (age 30) RC Podillya v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Eduard Vertyletskyi Pogoń Siedlce v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Roman Kulakivskyi Lock 5 November 1986 (age 34) RC Kredo-63 v. Poland, 9 October 2021 Yaroslav Davydov 1 January 2001 (age 20) RC Olymp v. Poland, 9 October 2021
Coaches Current coaching staff NameNationalityRoleMaksym KravchenkoManagerValerii KochanovHead coachOleh KvasnytsiaCoachOlena ZadorozhnaPhysio
Former coaches Name Years Tests Won Drew Lost Win percentage Valerii Kochanov
Notable players Andriy Kovalenco Vitaly Orlov Ivan Soroka and Alex Soroka - Ukrainian qualified Irish underage internationals
See also Rugby union in Ukraine National Rugby Federation of Ukraine Ukraine national rugby sevens team Ukraine women's national rugby sevens team Sport in Ukraine
References
External links rugby.org.ua - Official Site