Sport Rugby union WR affiliation 1988 | Founded 1971 Men's coach Penn Raanan | |
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The Israel Rugby Union (Hebrew: איגוד הרוגבי הישראלי, IRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby in Israel.
The Israel Rugby Union was founded in 1971, and joined the International Rugby Board in 1988. For political reasons, it is also part of FIRA-AER, the European rugby body, rather than the Asian Rugby Football Union. The Israel national rugby union team play in the European Nations Cup. It is based in Ra'anana.
In 2011, Peter de Villiers, coach of the South African national rugby team, and Oregan Hoskins, president of the South African Rugby Union, visited Israel and met with Israeli national team players. The coach of the Springboks conducted a training session on the rugby field at Kibbutz Yizrael.
In 2011, the Israel Olympic Committee backed the seven-a-side game as a preferred team sport ahead of the game's introduction to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The Israeli women's team is ranked 21st in Europe.