Croatia national rugby union team

Croatia

Union	Croatian Rugby Federation
Head coach	Anthony Posa
Captain	Nik Jurišić
First colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	46 (as of 20 March 2023)
Highest	39 (2022)
Lowest	47 (2023)
Biggest win
Croatia 78–3 Hungary (22 May 1993)
Biggest defeat
Croatia 6-126 France A (19 June 1993) Biggest defeat by full international Malta 56-8 Croatia (4 November 2017)
World Cup
Appearances	0

The Croatia national rugby union team is governed by the Croatian Rugby Union. Croatia have been playing internationals rugby since 1992, they have yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup. The national side is ranked 46th in the world (as of 20 March 2023)

Internationals

Croatia played their first international on 28 November 1992, away against Bosnia & Herzegovina, and won 47–3. Croatia played four the following year with wins over Austria and Hungary. They then faced off against Italy, who won 76–11. The year finished off with a win over Morocco 36–12 but a loss to Spain .

The following year they won three of their five fixtures, though they lost to Ukraine and Luxembourg, though the following year, they were able to defeat Luxembourg in 1995. Croatia won a number of games in 1996–97, defeating the likes of Israel, Norway, Bulgaria, Latvia and Moldova and but losing to an experienced Georgia that year by 29–15.

1997 to 2000, Croatia played 11 International for 10 wins and 1 loss (to the Netherlands).

Croatia won five matches in a row from 2001 to 2002. Croatia started in round three of the 2007 Rugby World Cup European qualification tournament but were knocked out by Latvia and Andorra.

On St. Patrick's Day 17 March 2007, in Knin, the Croatian national team played an Irish Barbarians side and won the St. Pat's in Knin Cup.

On 10 November 2007 Croatia defeated Malta 24–9 in Makarska. There are two internationals coming up in 2008 with Croatia taking on Andorra in Split (19 April) and away to Latvia in Riga (10 May)

Famous players

Croatia have a host of players who are New Zealanders, Australians and South Africans of Croatian origin who play the game and have played internationally for these countries. The first New Zealander of Croatian descent to play for Croatia was Brendon Winslow against Luxembourg in 1995.

Other New Zealanders, were Paul Vegar (North Shore, NZ reps), Mario Vodanovich (Te Kauwhata, Counties), Paul Vujcich (Counties, Manurewa and North Shore) and the Graham brothers Rob and Reon (Counties, Patumahoe, Manurewa).

Anthony Posa was another New Zealander who played many times for Croatia (1996–2003), playing out of both the GHA RFC, Glasgow, Scotland and Beverley RUFC, Yorkshire, England. He is now Head Coach of the Yorkshire Under 20 County side which has won numerous English National County Championships and coaches professionally at the Doncaster club in England. His family originated from the Island of Korčula.

Frano Botica was a one time Croatian rugby player and former All Black, whose grandparents were also born in Korčula. Another former All Black who turned out for the Croatian side at the same time was Matthew Cooper. Dan Luger is an England representative whose father Darko Luger is from the island of Brac. Sean Fitzpatrick is another former All Black captain who has Croatian heritage.

Record

World Cup

World Cup record									World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	P	W	D	L	F	A		P	W	D	L	F	A
1987	Part of Yugoslavia								Part of Yugoslavia
1991	Part of Yugoslavia								Part of Yugoslavia
1995	Did not enter								Did not enter
1999	Did not qualify								8	6	0	2	297	172
2003									4	2	0	2	56	70
2007									4	1	0	3	76	86
2011									4	3	0	1	74	60
2015									4	1	0	3	78	92
2019									4	2	1	1	106	79
2023									Automatically eliminated
Total	0/9	0	0	0	0	0	0		28	15	1	12	687	559

European Competitions

Season	Division	G	W	D	L	PF	PA	+/−	Pts	Pos
2000	European Nations Cup Second Division	4	3	0	1	105	36	+29	9	2nd
2000-01	European Nations Cup Second Division	5	2	1	2	70	77	-7	10	4th
2002-04	European Nations Cup Second Division Pool B	8	3	1	4	114	95	+19	15	3rd
2006-08	European Nations Cup Second Division 2B	8	4	0	4	133	134	-1	16	3rd
2008-10	European Nations Cup Second Division 2B	8	6	0	2	161	114	+47	20	2nd
2010-12	European Nations Cup Second Division 2A	8	3	0	5	162	170	-8	19	4th
2012-14	European Nations Cup Second Division 2A	8	2	0	6	145	221	-76	11	4th
2014-16	European Nations Cup Second Division 2A	8	3	0	5	166	217	-51	17	3rd
2016-17	Rugby Europe Conference 1 South	4	2	1	1	106	79	+27	12	3rd
2017-18	Rugby Europe Conference 1 South	4	2	1	1	85	97	-12	11	2nd
2018-19	Rugby Europe Conference 1 South	4	3	1	0	123	69	+54	16	2nd
2019-20	Rugby Europe Conference 1 South	2	2	0	0	64	30	+34	9	1st
2021-22*	Rugby Europe Conference 1 South	2	2	0	0	77	11	+66	10	1st
2022-23	Rugby Europe Trophy	4	1	0	3	100	133	-33	5	5th
2023-24	Rugby Europe Trophy	3	1	0	2	83	75	+8	6	4th

Overall

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Croatia national XV at test level up until 30 November 2024, updated after match with Luxembourg.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Andorra	7	5	1	1	71.43%
Austria	4	4	0	0	100%
Belgium	4	2	2	0	50%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	4	0	0	100%
Bulgaria	1	1	0	0	100%
Cyprus	4	4	0	0	100%
Czech Republic	7	1	6	0	14.29%
Denmark	5	4	0	1	80%
Georgia	1	0	1	0	0%
Germany	3	1	1	1	33.33%
Hungary	4	4	0	0	100%
Italy	1	0	1	0	0%
Italy A	1	0	1	0	0%
Israel	8	7	1	0	87.5%
Latvia	8	6	2	0	75%
Lithuania	6	3	3	0	50%
Luxembourg	3	1	1	1	33.33%
Malta	15	8	5	2	53.33%
Moldova	1	1	0	0	100%
Morocco	1	0	1	0	0%
Netherlands	5	1	4	0	20%
Norway	1	1	0	0	100%
Poland	3	1	2	0	33.33%
Russia	1	1	0	0	100%
Serbia and Montenegro	1	1	0	0	100%
Slovenia	8	7	1	0	87.5%
Spain	2	0	1	1	0%
Sweden	7	1	6	0	14.29%
Switzerland	10	2	8	0	20%
Ukraine	6	2	4	0	33.33%
Total	132	73	52	7	55.3%

Recent Matches

Matches
6 November 2021 14:00 CET (UTC+01) (1 TBP) Croatia 48–3 Slovenia Report Stari plac, Split Attendance: 100 Referee: Benjamin Loader (Austria)
13 November 2021 15:00 EET (UTC+02) Cyprus 8–29 Croatia (1 TBP) Report Stelios Kyriakides Stadium, Paphos Attendance: 0 Referee: Florin Bonea (Romania)

Current squad

The following players formed the squad for the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Conference 1 South match against Cyprus on 13 November 2021.

• Known Caps updated after match with Cyprus.

Head coach: Anthony Posa

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

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Ivan Josip Kordun	Prop	(1994-04-19) 19 April 1994		RK Nada
Krešimir Čorić	Hooker	(1993-08-26) 26 August 1993		RK Nada
Luka Perlain	Prop	(1998-11-28) 28 November 1998		RK Nada
Alexander Bibic	Lock	(1998-08-08) 8 August 1998
Dražen Brčić-Šušak	Lock	(1996-11-28) 28 November 1996		RK Sinj
Ivo Perić	Flanker	(1993-08-02) 2 August 1993		RK Nada
Martin Rešković	Flanker	(1986-09-08) 8 September 1986		RK Zagreb
Marko Buljac	Number 8	(1986-11-28) 28 November 1986		HARK Mladost
Luka Lerotić	Scrum-half	(1990-11-28) 28 November 1990		RK Nada
Nik Jurišić (c)	Fly-half	(1988-07-06) 6 July 1988		HARK Mladost
Jan Vlašić	Wing	(1992-05-29) 29 May 1992		HARK Mladost
Filip Perica	Centre	(1991-06-04) 4 June 1991		RC Sarlat
Marko Grčić	Centre	(1992-11-28) 28 November 1992		RK Sinj
Nikola Pavlović	Wing	(1992-12-18) 18 December 1992		RK Sinj
Domagoj Plazibat	Fullback	(1995-10-31) 31 October 1995		RK Nada
Tomislav Fišić	Back row	(1999-01-29) 29 January 1999		HARK Mladost
Denis Brečić	Prop	(1999-11-28) 28 November 1999		HARK Mladost
Marko Bužančić	Prop	(2000-11-28) 28 November 2000	1	RK Nada
Marin Miloš	Lock	(1999-05-02) 2 May 1999	1	RK Sinj
Željko Galić	Flanker	(1999-11-28) 28 November 1999		RK Zagreb
Dominik Fišić	??	(2000-01-29) 29 January 2000		HARK Mladost
Duje Plazibat	Centre	(1997-12-27) 27 December 1997		RK Nada
Fran Peršić	Wing	(1997-10-12) 12 October 1997		HARK Mladost

See also

• Rugby union in Croatia

External links

• Croatia Rugby official website