Andorra national rugby union team

Andorra
File:Andorrarugby.jpg
Union	Federació Andorrana de Rugby
Nickname(s)	Els Isards
Coach	Jordi Beal
Captain	Lionel Prat
Team colours 　 Team colours
First international
Andorra 24 -3 Luxembourg (1st July 1987)
Largest win
Andorra 76 - 3 Norway (4th September 2004)
Worst defeat
Andorra 3 - 62 Spain (8th November 1997)

The Andorra national rugby union team, nicknamed Els Isards (which is a Pyrenean Chamois) represent Andorra in international rugby union competitions. They are currently ranked 62nd out of 95 Rugby playing nations by the International Rugby Board (IRB). They play most of their home games in Andorra la Vella, the country's capital, though have had some matches in Foix, which is in France.

They compete in the European Nations Cup, and are currently in the second division. As well as playing numerous friendlies they have also taken part in the qualification stages of the Rugby World Cup, competing in every tournament since 1995.

History

Andorra played their first rugby international in 1987 against Luxembourg. Andorra won the match 24-3.

Andorra first tried to qualify for the Rugby World Cup in 1995. They competed in the preliminary round in the west group of the European qualification. They defeated Denmark, but lost to Switzerland, and were knocked out.

Andorra also attempted to qualify for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Andorra started off in Pool 3 of Round 1, and won all four of their fixtures, finishing at the top of the final standings to advance through to Round 2. However they were then knocked out of qualifying after Round 2 coming last in a five team group.

They competed in Pool B of Round 1 in attempting to qualify for the 2003 World Cup, but did not advance to the next stage coming third in a six team group.

The 2007 tournament saw many more fixtures and gained the small nation some greater publicity by playing in the first match of the tournament, beating Norway 76-3. They won a 2 leg match, came third in the ensuing five team group thus qualifying for a further 2 leg playoff, victory in which led to a further five team group in which they were last. Competing with the more populous Moldova, Netherlands, Spain and Poland, having beaten Norway, Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden certainly brought Andorra to the attention of more rugby followers, all in spite of a small population of just 70,000.

Popularity

The popularity of football in Andorra has been on the decline due to a poor record at home and away. This has left room for Andorran rugby to rise out of the shadows. Mainly affected by the fanatical popularity of rugby in southern France, Els Isards continue to impress on the international stage. This has led to the rapid increase in the number of registered players in Andorra. Many are now suggesting that rugby in Andorra has grown to such an extent that it has now become the tiny nation's national sport.

As well as a mens 15 aside team, the men have competed in the European Sevens competition since 2005. In 2005 they won promotion to the next division and in both 2006 and 2007 made the finals of the competition.

Also Andorra have a womens set up. As of yet they have only played sevens, competing in 2006 and 2007.

Youth rugby in Andorra is less developed and has to date only consisted of training camps.

Results Mens 15 aside

Analysis

Andorra have played friendlies, FIRA competitions and World Cup Qualifiers. The full results list including details of unplayed games can be found below. The various game types can be summarised as follows - note that unfulfilled and defaulted games are NOT included in the analysis although they do count towards the game count in the full list. Also if a game has been both a World Cup and FIRA game then it is only recorded here in the World Cup figures.

Match Type	P	W	D	L	%	F	A	D	Notes
Friendly	6	2	0	4	33	41	65	-24
Regional	40	15	1	24	39	592	846	-254
World Cup	27	13	0	14	48	589	626	-37
All Games	73	30	1	42	42	1222	1537	-315

Matches against individual teams can be summarised as follows

Nation	P	W	D	L	%	F	A	D	Notes
Norway	2	2	0	0	100	99	12	87
Austria	2	2	0	0	100	87	15	72
Lithuania	1	1	0	0	100	54	24	30
Monaco	2	2	0	0	100	43	16	27
Bosnia Herzogovina	1	1	0	0	100	23	13	10
Israel	1	1	0	0	100	19	13	6
Denmark	2	2	0	0	100	11	5	6
Hungary	4	3	0	1	75	116	58	58	There is also one unfulfilled fixture
Yugoslavia	4	3	0	1	75	56	43	13	There is also one unfulfilled fixture
Luxembourg	7	4	1	2	64	124	66	58
Slovenia	4	2	0	2	50	85	70	15
Sweden	4	2	0	2	50	67	79	-12	There is also one win by default
Bulgaria	6	2	0	4	33	95	95	0
Croatia	3	1	0	2	33	31	47	-16
Czech Republic	3	1	0	2	33	26	104	-78
Tunisia	4	1	0	3	25	48	80	-32
Malta	1	0	0	1	0	24	31	-7
Latvia	1	0	0	1	0	21	34	-7	There is also one unfulfilled fixture
Moldova	1	0	0	1	0	16	23	-7	There is also one unfulfilled fixture and one defeat by default
Switzerland	3	0	0	3	0	39	62	-23	There is also one win by default
Morocco	2	0	0	2	0	19	63	-44
Germany	1	0	0	1	0	11	56	-45
Portugal	3	0	0	3	0	32	115	-83
Poland	5	0	0	5	0	43	154	-111
Spain	3	0	0	3	0	17	129	-112
Netherlands	3	0	0	3	0	16	140	-124
Total	73	30	1	42	42	1222	1537	-315

Full Match List

Sequence	Date	Opponents	F	A	Venue	Type	Notes
1	1st July 1987	Luxembourg (1)	24	3	A Luxembourg	FIRA C	First International for Andorra
2	8th July 1987	Luxembourg (2)	12	3	H Andorra La Vella	Friendly	First Home match
3	28th May 1988	Bulgaria (1)	6	30	A Sofia	FIRA C	First defeat
4	1st July 1988	Bulgaria (2)	7	21	H Andorra	Friendly
5	8th April 1989	Tunisia (1)	7	19	H Andorra La Vella	Friendly	First game against an African team
6	23rd April 1989	Luxembourg (3)	8	10	A Cessange	FIRA C
7	28th May 1989	Bulgaria (3)	7	21	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA C
8	1st July 1989	Luxembourg (4)	6	10	A	Friendly
9	8th April 1990	Tunisia (2)	6	12	H Andorra La Vella	Friendly	9th consecutive defeat
10	29th April 1990	Luxembourg (5)	26	6	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA C
11	26th May 1990	Yugoslavia (1)	9	3	A Split	FIRA C
12	9th March 1991	Morocco (1)	9	25	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA C
13	23rd March 1991	Portugal (1)	15	33	A Coimbra	FIRA C
14	4th May 1991	Tunisia (3)	16	14	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA C
15	9th November 1991	Tunisia (4)	19	35	A Tunis	FIRA C	First match in Africa
16	28th March 1992	Portugal (2)	6	29	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA C
17	25th April 1992	Morocco (2)	10	38	A Casablanca	FIRA C
18	1st October 1992	Denmark (1)	3	0	H	Friendly	Some sources list this as the WC game but it appears to be separate
19	27th October 1992	Denmark (2)	8	5	H Andorra La Vella	WC 1995	First World Cup match
20	31st October 1992	Switzerland (1)	0	14	H Andorra La Vella	WC 1995	First game without scoring
21	28th November 1992	Netherlands (1)	6	40	A Hertogenbosch	FIRA B1
22	17th April 1993	Poland (1)	6	19	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B1
23	15th May 1993	Czech Republic (1)	6	3	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B1
24	11th September 1993	Sweden (1)	6	25	A Nassjo	FIRA B1
25	6th November 1993	Poland (2)	10	30	A Sochaczew	FIRA B1
26	26th March 1994	Netherlands (2)	10	49	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B1
27	12th April 1994	Czech Republic (2)	0	56	A Prague	FIRA B1
28	15th May 1994	Sweden (2)	w/o		H Default	FIRA B1	Won by default
29	22nd April 1995	Croatia (1)	0	16	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B3
30	7th May 1995	Switzerland (2)	w/o		A Default	FIRA B3	Won by default
31	13th May 1995	Luxembourg (6)	18	18	A Cessange	FIRA B3	First draw
32	26th November 1995	Slovenia (1)	28	23	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B3
33	24th March 1996	Yugoslavia (2)	30	12	A Ursag	FIRA B2
34	20th April 1996	Bulgaria (4)	13	8	H Andorra La Vella	FIRA B2
35	19th October 1996	Lithuania (1)	54	24	H Andorra La Vella	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round A
36	2nd November 1996	Sweden (3)	21	20	H Andorra La Velle	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round A
37	15th March 1997	Luxembourg (7)	30	16	A Cessange	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round A
38	14th June 1997	Hungary (1)	34	5	A Budapest	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round A, 7th consecutive win and 8th unbeaten
39	13th September 1997	Czech Republic (3)	20	45	A Tatra Smichov Stadium	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round B
40	4th October 1997	Germany (1)	11	56	H Andorra La Velle	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round B
41	8th November 1997	Spain (1)	3	62	H Andorra La Velle	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round B, biggest defeat
42	30th May 1998	Portugal (3)	11	53	A Lousa	WC 1999	Pool 3 Round B
43	26th September 1998	Switzerland (3)	14	15	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA D
44	31st Ocober 1998	Bulgaria (5)	3	5	A	FIRA D
45	27th February 1999	Monaco (1)	29	6	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA D
46	12th June 1999	Israel (1)	19	13	A	FIRA D
47	30th October 1999	Slovenia (2)	3	16	A	FIRA D1
48	5th February 2000	Monaco (2)	14	10	A	FIRA D1
49	26th February 2000	Hungary (2)	32	10	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA D1
50	13th May 2000	Austria (1)	21	12	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA D1
51	14th October 2000	Yugoslavia (3)	12	9	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2003	EURO Round A
52	28th October 2000	Hungary (3)	21	27	A Szazhalombatta	WC 2003	EURO Round A
53	5th May 2001	Switzerland (4)	25	33	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2003	EURO Round A
54	12th May 2001	Bulgaria (6)	59	10	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2003	EURO Round A
55	26th May 2001	Bosnia Herzogovina (1)	23	13	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2003	EURO Round A
56	13th October 2001	Austria (2)	56	3	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA B	Pool A
57	11th November 2001	Slovenia (3)	16	26	A Ljubljana	FIRA B	Pool A
57a	27th March 2002	Nortwestern University (USA)	40	5	H Andorra La Velle		Touring team
58	5th May 2002	Yugoslavia (4)	5	19	H Andorra La Velle	FIRA B	Pool A
59	1st June 2002	Moldova (1)		w/o	A Chisnau	FIRA B	Pool A - Lost by default
59a	22nd September 2002	Moldova (2)					Probably FIRA B, this game is shown as a fixture
59b	26th October 2002	Hungary (4)					Probably FIRA B, this game is shown as a fixture
59c	3rd November 2002	Yugoslavia (5)					Probably FIRA B, this game is shown as a fixture
59d	2nd March 2003	Latvia (1)					Probably FIRA B, this game is shown as a fixture
60	4th September 2004	Norway (1)	76	3	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 1 - first game of the tournament, biggest victory
61	18th September 2004	Norway (2)	23	9	A Fana	WC 2007	Round 1
62	23rd October 2004	Hungary (5)	29	16	A Vasas	WC 2007	Round 2 Pool A
63	20th November 2004	Croatia (2)	7	18	A Stadium Metalac, Sisak	WC 2007	Round 2 Pool A
64	12th February 2005	Spain (2)	14	36	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 2 Pool A
65	30th April 2005	Slovenia (4)	38	5	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 2 Pool A
66	28th May 2005	Sweden (4)	30	20	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 2 playoff
67	4th June 2005	Sweden (5)	10	14	A Vanersborg	WC 2007	Round 2 playoff
68	29th October 2005	Poland (3)	14	18	A	WC 2007	Round 3 Pool A
69	26th November 2005	Netherlands (3)	0	51	A Amsterdam	WC 2007	Round 3 Pool A
70	11th March 2006	Spain (3)	0	31	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 3 Pool A
71	6th May 2006	Moldova (3)	16	23	H Andorra La Velle	WC 2007	Round 3 Pool A
72	7th Otober 2006	Poland (4)	8	54	A	ENC 2B
73	4th Novemebr 2006	Latvia (2)	21	34	H Andorra La Velle	ENC 2B	7th consecutive defeat
74	7th April 2007	Croatia (3)	24	13	H Andorra La Velle	ENC 2B
75	12th May 2007	Malta (1)	24	31	A Valetta	ENC 2B
76	29th September 2007	Poland (5)	5	33	H Andorra La Velle	ENC 2B
77	24th November 2007	Latvia (3)			A	ENC 2B
78	19th April 2008	Croatia (4)			A	ENC 2B
79	17th May 2008	Malta (2)			A	ENC 2B

Results Mens 7s

To date Andorra (men) have played in eight International Sevens Tournaments (FIRA-AER 2005 Qualifiers (2 rounds), FIRA-AER 2006 Qualifiers (2 rounds) and Finals, FIRA-AER 2007 Qualifiers (2 rounds) and Finals). Each year a number of tournaments take place across Europe and each nation takes part in two tournaments to decide on a final 12. In 2007 Andorra were joint 12th with Croatia but qualified on points difference. The qualifiers seen 5th (3 times), 4th (1 time) and 3rd (2 times). Both appearances in the finals have seen 12th (last) but notable teams have failed to qualify.

25th to 26th June 2005 at Lumel, France (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Fifth (Plate winners)

Group Games

0-35 Spain

27-5 Belgium

43-0 Monaco

5-29 France

Knock Out (5th to 8th)

5-0 Armenia

26-21 Netherlands

2nd to 3rd July 2005 at Andorra (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Fifth (Plate winners)

Group Games

0-29 Spain

24-5 Belgium

w/o Slovakia

7-28 France

36-7 Invitation

Knock Out (5th to 8th)

26-7 Bosnia and Herzogovina

17-15 Croatia

27th to 28th May 2006 at Amsterdam, Netherlands (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Third

Group Games

19-21 Netherlands

26-10 Israel

24-14 Portugal

40-0 Luxembourg

Knock Out (1st to 4th)

12-17 Croatia

17-5 Portugal

9th to 10th June 2006 at Madrid, Spain (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Third

Group Games

24-0 Croatia

68-0 Norway

54-5 Azerbaijan

0-26 Portugal

Knock Out (1st to 4th)

12-19 Spain

26-7 Belgium

15th to 16th July 2006 at Moscow, Russia (FIRA-AER Finals)

Came Twelfth

Group Games

12-42 Romania

0-52 Spain

12-14 Croatia

7-56 Russia

7-19 Portugal

Knock Out (9th to 12th)

19-24 Lithuania

0-21 Ukraine

19th to 20th May 2007 at Amsterdam, Netherlands (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Fourth

Group Games

41-0 Belgium

56-0 Norway

7-21 Portugal

39-14 Serbia

Knock Out (1st to 4th)

10-21 Italy

5-29 Germany

26th to 27th May 2007 at Croatia (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Came Fifth (plate winners)

Group Games

5-31 Ukraine

40-7 Hungary

41-0 Slovakia

12-14 Italy

Knock Out (5th to 8th)

21-5 Greece

47-12 Hungary

7th to 8th July 2007 at Moscow, Russia (FIRA-AER Finals)

Came Twelfth

Group Games

0-36 Russia

5-26 Romania

14-38 Poland

7-28 Germany

12-33 France

Knock Out (9th to 12th)

0-49 Ukraine

17-26 Lithuania

31st May to 1st June 2008 at Zagreb, Croatia (FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Andorra will compete in stage three at Zagreb (Croatia) on 31st May and 1st June as 13th seeds with (seeding in brackets) Moldova (2), Spain (3), Romania (4), Croatia (14), Serbia (22), Switzerland (26), Czech Republic (28), Bosnia Herzogovina (32) and Austria (34).

21st and 22nd June 2008 at Porto Carras, Greece(FIRA-AER Qualifiers)

Andorra will compete in stage seven at Porto Carras(Greece) on 21st and 22nd June with (seeding in brackets) Spain (3), Italy (5), Ireland (6), Israel (21), Bulgaria (24), Greece (25), Luxembourg (31), Bosnia Herzogovina (32) and Cyprus (33). (34).

Nation Analysis

Nation	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff.	%
Norway	2	2	0	0	124	0	124	100
Belgium	4	4	0	0	118	17	101	100
Hungary	2	2	0	0	87	19	68	100
Azerbaijan	1	1	0	0	54	5	49	100
Monaco	1	1	0	0	43	0	43	100
Slovakia	2	2	0	0	41	0	41	100
Luxembourg	1	1	0	0	40	0	40	100
Invitation	1	1	0	0	36	7	29	100
Serbia	1	1	0	0	39	14	25	100
Bosnia Herzogovina	1	1	0	0	26	7	19	100
Israel	1	1	0	0	26	10	16	100
Greece	1	1	0	0	21	5	16	100
Armenia	1	1	0	0	5	0	5	100
Croatia	4	2	0	2	65	46	19	50
Netherlands	2	1	0	1	45	42	3	50
Portugal	5	2	0	3	55	85	-30	40
Lithuania	2	0	0	2	38	50	-12	0
Italy	2	0	0	2	22	35	-13	0
Poland	1	0	0	1	14	38	-24	0
Germany	2	0	0	2	12	57	-45	0
Romania	2	0	0	2	17	68	-51	0
France	3	0	0	3	24	90	-66	0
Russia	2	0	0	2	7	92	-85	0
Ukraine	3	0	0	3	5	101	-96	0
Spain	4	0	0	4	12	135	-123	0
TOTALS	51	24	0	27	776	723	53	47

The Slovakia record includes one "w/o". It is counted as a win with no effect on points scored.

Results Womens 7s

To date Andorra (women) have played in two international Sevens Tournaments

25th to 27th May 2006 at Limoges, France (FIRA-AER Division B)

Came Second and promoted

Group Games

17-0 Poland

0-7 Hungary

29-0 Austria

15-0 Malta

Knock Out (1st to 4th)

22-0 Bulgaria

0-7 Romania

26th to 27th May 2007 at Zagreb, Croatia (FIRA-AER Division A)

Came 8th and should maintain status

Group Games

7-29 Germany

22-5 Bulgaria

7-12 Lithuania

19-5 Poland

15-7 Norway

Knock Out (7th to 8th)

0-5 Romania

0-29 Norway

Nation Analysis

Nation	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff.	%
Bulgaria	2	2	0	0	44	5	39	100
Poland	2	2	0	0	36	5	31	100
Austria	1	1	0	0	29	0	29	100
Malta	1	1	0	0	15	0	15	100
Norway	2	1	0	1	15	36	-21	50
Lithuania	1	0	0	1	7	12	-5	0
Hungary	1	0	0	1	0	7	-7	0
Romania	2	0	0	2	0	12	-12	0
Germany	1	0	0	1	7	29	-22	0
TOTALS	13	7	0	6	153	106	47	54

Youth Rugby

There are only limited records for Andorran youth rugby.

A training camp (with Spain and Portugal) took place in 2001/2002. A similar camp took place at Tarazones from 7th to 12th April 2006 with 23 players and 3 coaches attending. These are both for Under 17s.

Sources

http://www.irb.com/, ITV, http://www.irb.com/, http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/index.php, websites of unions mentioned, Scrum.com, http://www.rugbyinternational.net/

External links

• Federació Andorrana de Rugby - Official Site Template:Ca icon
• [1] - Andorran Rugby Fan Site

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