Switzerland national rugby union team
The Switzerland national rugby union team (French: Equipe Nationale Suisse de Rugby à XV German: Schweizer Rugby-Union-Nationalmannschaft Italian: Nazionale di Rugby XV della Svizzera) represents Switzerland in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed The White Flowers (Edelweiss), is considered one of the stronger tier 3 teams in European rugby and 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 6 nations) compete. They are yet to participate in any Rugby World Cup and often play in all red while their alternative kit is all white.
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| Nickname(s) | Edelweiss (The White Flowers) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emblem | Edelweiss | ||
| Union | Fédération Suisse de Rugby | ||
| Head coach | Olivier Nier | ||
| Captain | Cyril Lin | ||
| Home stadium | TBC | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 27 (as of 3 April 2023) | ||
| Highest | 27 (2023) | ||
| Lowest | 67 (2010) | ||
| First international | |||
.svg.png.webp){kind=small} Switzerland 4-23 Portugal  (Neuchâtel, Switzerland 11 April 1973) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Bulgaria 9–90 Switzerland (Pernik, Bulgaria 14 October 2000) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Morocco 43–0 Switzerland (Casablanca, Morocco 25 March 1979) | |||
| Website | www.suisserugby.com | ||
History
Switzerland played their first ever international rugby match on April 11, 1973 in Neuchâtel against Portugal, losing 23–4. The following year they lost 10–18 to Belgium, and were then defeated by them 33–3 in 1975. After the second lost to Belgium, Switzerland won their first international rugby match; defeating Serbia-Montenegro 12–3 in Geneva. The only other win for Switzerland during the 1970s was a 7–4 victory over Luxembourg in 1977. In 1979 they were defeated 43–0 by Morocco and 31–0 by Portugal.
They however bounced back in 1980, defeating Luxembourg 10–7 in Berne, though they then lost close matches against Sweden and Belgium, and were again held to nil by Portugal in 1981, but got a victory over Denmark later that year. After losing to Belgium and Sweden in 1982, they then scored 60 unanswered points against Finland. They then lost nine games in a row from 1982 to 1986, then defeating Serbia-Montenegro 5–0 in May 1986.
In 1989, Switzerland attempted to qualify for the 1991 Rugby World Cup in England, playing in the European tournament – Round 2A. They finished third in the final standings of the round, winning one of their three fixtures. Switzerland also participated in the qualifying tournaments for the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, making it past the preliminary round from the west group, but not advancing past Round 1.
Switzerland finished third (out of six nations) in Pool 1 of Round 1 of the European qualification tournaments for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales, winning and drawing one game out of four fixtures. Switzerland had more success in the qualifying tournaments for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia, finishing at the top of Pool B in Round 1 and advancing to Round 2, but were unable to advance to Round 3. In attempting to qualify for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, Switzerland finished fourth in Pool D of Round 2 of the European qualification process.
Switzerland also failed to qualify for the 2011 or 2015 Rugby World Cups.
In 2016 Switzerland reached the second division (Rugby Europe Trophy, formerly Division 1B) of the ENC for the first time since the divisional structure was implemented in 2000, after winning Division 2A over the 2014-16 two-year cycle.
Record
World Cup
| World Cup record | World Cup Qualification record | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | P | W | D | L | F | A | P | W | D | L | F | A | |
.svg.png.webp){kind=small}  1987 | Not Invited | Not Invited | ||||||||||||
   1991 | did not qualify | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 74 | |||||||
 1995 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 122 | ||||||||
 1999 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 40 | 50 | ||||||||
| 2003 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 297 | 171 | ||||||||
| 2007 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 77 | 51 | ||||||||
| 2011 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 79 | 102 | ||||||||
 2015 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 92 | 75 | ||||||||
 2019 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 140 | 122 | ||||||||
| 2023 | Automatically eliminated | |||||||||||||
| Total | 0/9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 17 | 2 | 21 | 794 | 767 | |
European Competitions Since 2000
| Season | Division | G | W | D | L | PF | PA | +/− | Pts | Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | European Nations Cup Third Division | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 47 | 60 | -13 | 6 | 3rd |
| 2002-04 | European Nations Cup Second Division Pool B | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 145 | 95 | +50 | 21 | 1st |
| 2004-06 | European Nations Cup Third Division Pool A | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 34 | 87 | -53 | 8 | 3rd |
| 2006-08 | European Nations Cup Third Division 3A | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 150 | 129 | +24 | 16 | 3rd |
| 2008-10 | European Nations Cup Third Division 3A | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 79 | 112 | -33 | 11 | 5th |
| 2010-12 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2B | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 253 | 77 | +176 | 34 | 1st |
| 2012-14 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 170 | 159 | +11 | 21 | 2nd |
| 2014-16 | European Nations Cup Second Division 2A | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 223 | 120 | +103 | 33 | 1st |
| 2016-17 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 140 | 122 | +18 | 13 | 3rd |
| 2017-18 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 109 | 122 | -13 | 11 | 4th |
| 2018-19 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 108 | 138 | -20 | 12 | 3rd |
| 2019-20 | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 93 | 52 | +41 | 14 | 2nd |
| 2021-22* | Rugby Europe Trophy | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 120 | 117 | +3 | 9 | 4th |
| 2022-23* | Rugby Europe Trophy | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 205 | 72 | +133 | 20 | 1st |
| Top 30 as of 23 October 2023[1] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Change* | Team | Points |
| 1 |  | South Africa | 92.79 |
| 2 | | New Zealand | 91.56 |
| 3 | | Ireland | 90.57 |
| 4 | | France | 87.81 |
| 5 | | England | 83.72 |
| 6 | |  Scotland | 83.43 |
| 7 | |  Argentina | 82.42 |
| 8 | | Wales | 80.64 |
| 9 | | Australia | 77.48 |
| 10 | |  Fiji | 76.38 |
| 11 | |  Italy | 75.93 |
| 12 | | Japan | 74.27 |
| 13 | | Portugal | 72.78 |
| 14 | |  Georgia | 72.68 |
| 15 | |  Samoa | 72.23 |
| 16 | |  Tonga | 71.57 |
| 17 | |  Uruguay | 67.39 |
| 18 | |  United States | 66.22 |
| 19 | |  Spain | 64.05 |
| 20 | |  Romania | 63.28 |
| 21 | |  Namibia | 60.56 |
| 22 | |  Chile | 60.49 |
| 23 | | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Canada | 60.46 |
| 24 | |  Hong Kong | 59.80 |
| 25 | |  Russia | 58.06 |
| 26 | |  Brazil | 56.35 |
| 27 | |  Netherlands | 55.84 |
| 28 | | Switzerland | 55.72 |
| 29 | | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Belgium | 54.58 |
| 30 | |  South Korea | 53.46 |
| * Change from the previous week | |||
| Switzerland's historical rankings | |||
See or edit source data. | |||
| Source: World Rugby[1] Graph updated to 23 October 2023 | |||
Overall
Switzerland national rugby union team results as of 1 April 2023, following match against Croatia.
| Opponent | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % | For | Aga | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andorra | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 85.7% | 142 | 88 | +54 |
 Armenia | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60% | 107 | 106 | +1 |
 Austria | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 79 | 32 | +47 |
| Belgium | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 33.3% | 143 | 196 | –53 |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 43 | 6 | +37 |
| Bulgaria | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 230 | 36 | +194 |
 Croatia | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 70% | 235 | 164 | +71 |
 Czech Republic | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 28.6% | 86 | 127 | –41 |
 Denmark | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 30% | 152 | 180 | –28 |
 Finland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 60 | 0 | +60 |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 21 | 22 | –1 |
 Germany | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14.3% | 90 | 197 | –107 |
 Hungary | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 61 | 23 | +38 |
 Israel | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 71.4% | 171 | 64 | +107 |
 Ivory Coast | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50% | 36 | 33 | +3 |
 Latvia | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25.0% | 34 | 82 | –48 |
 Lithuania | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 50% | 215 | 168 | +47 |
 Luxembourg | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 95 | 29 | +66 |
 Malta | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60% | 93 | 79 | +14 |
 Moldova | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 51 | 46 | +5 |
 Monaco | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 20 | 16 | +4 |
| Morocco | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 43 | –43 |
| Netherlands | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0% | 128 | 235 | –107 |
 Norway | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 30 | 12 | +18 |
 Poland | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 42.9% | 148 | 72 | –24 |
| Portugal | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0% | 45 | 232 | –187 |
 Serbia | 18 | 5 | 1 | 12 | 27.8% | 199 | 240 | –41 |
 Slovenia | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60% | 176 | 68 | +108 |
| Spain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 40 | –40 |
 Sweden | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 14.3% | 110 | 131 | –21 |
 Tunisia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0% | 6 | 43 | –37 |
 Ukraine | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60% | 152 | 118 | +34 |
| Total | 166 | 75 | 8 | 83 | 45.2% | 3158 | 2928 | +230 |
Match Record
| Matches | ||||||||
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Current squad
The following players have been selected for the 2022–23 Rugby Europe Trophy.[2]
- Head Coach: Olivier Nier
Caps update: 22 November 2021
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reuben Bachofner-Brown | Prop | 2 May 1996 | 1 | Hornets RFC |
| Maximiliano Ducommun | Prop | 20 March 1992 | 3 | Nyon RC |
| Cameron Holestein | Prop | 11 March 1995 | 3 | Hartpury University |
| Vincent Vial | Prop | 21 June 1994 | 14 | CS Vienne |
| Alexandre Grillon | Prop | 14 February 1992 | 2 | Lausanne University |
| Dominic Gorman | Prop | 23 November 1997 | 17 | Yverdon RC |
| Nathan Pelsy | Hooker | 7 March 1997 | 18 | US Annecy |
| Maxime Luçon | Hooker | 19 July 1991 | 30 | CA Pontarlier |
| Manu Ronza | Hooker | 2 April 1997 | 13 | Lausanne University |
| Andri Koeferli | Hooker | 4 September 1999 | 3 | GC Zürich |
| Christian Rohrig | Lock | 7 December 1990 | 10 | GC Zürich |
| Romin Vivarie | Lock | 18 November 1992 | 2 | Lausanne University |
| Antoine Salino | Back row | 15 November 2000 | 2 | Servette RC |
| Tim Vögtli | Back row | 13 June 1994 | 23 | GC Zürich |
| George Hallam | Back row | 26 April 2003 | 2 | Coventry Academy |
| Cyril Lin (c) | Back row | 17 August 1984 | 42 | Nyon RC |
| Nicolas Lugeon | Back row | 9 June 1994 | 5 | Stade Lausanne RC |
| Ahmed Kane | Back row | 5 July 2001 | 2 | Lyon |
| William Meyer | Scrum-half | 28 September 2000 | 6 | Rumilly |
| Simon Perrod | Scrum-half | 14 July 1990 | 36 | Drancy RC |
| Donovan O'Grady | Scrum-half | 16 February 1993 | 16 | Eton Manor RFC |
| Jules Porcher | Fly-half | 1 July 1998 | 9 | RC Aubenas Vals |
| Jess Roberson | Centre | 4 August 1992 | 4 | GC Zürich |
| Tommaso Volta | Centre | 11 January 2000 | 4 | Hermance RRC |
| Gaëtan Moser | Centre | 25 May 2001 | 1 | Servette RC |
| Lucas Heinrich | Wing | 13 June 1995 | 29 | Servette RC |
| Hugo Malyon | Wing | 25 July 1995 | 9 | RC Suresnes |
| Hugh Kisielewski | Wing | 8 May 1990 | 10 | GC Zürich |
| Jolan Vincent | Fullback | 12 January 2002 | 6 | US Nantua Haut Bugey |
Current coaching staff
The current coaching staff of the Swiss national team:[3]
| Name | Nationality | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Yann Benoit | SUI | Manager |
| Olivier Nier | FRA | Head coach |
| Mathieu Guyou Kreis | SUI | Backs Coash |
| Simon Dupuy | SUI |
Forwards Coach |
| Dr Mathieu Saubade | SUI | Team doctor |
| Gregory Tellier | SUI | Physiotherapist |
See also
References
- "Men's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- "Switzerland Men XVs". www.suisserugby.com. Retrieved 2023-03-07.
- "Poland vs Switzerland Game Sheet" (PDF). Rugby Europe. 20 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
External links
- Fédération Suisse de Rugby - Official Site
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