Nickname(s) "Wolves" (Vukovi) Captain(s) Damijan Čelebić | Coach(es) Aleksandar Bulatović | |
Union Montenegrin Rugby Union | ||
The Montenegro national rugby team, known as the Wolves (Vukovi), represents Montenegro in international rugby sevens. The team plays in red and gold jerseys with red shorts, and their emblem is the double headed eagle while their logo is the wolf. Montenegro are currently in Conference 1 in Europe for rugby 7's having made their debut in 2014.
Contents
History
Prior to 2003, Montenegro had been represented in international rugby matches as FR Yugoslavia, and as Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 until Montenegro's independence in 2006. Rugby began to develop in Montenegro from 2011. Participation numbers grew and the players progressed to rugby sevens. By 2013 there were four rugby clubs in Montenegro. A regional league began in 2014 and fixtures were also arranged with other teams around the former Yugoslavian countries, and by 2014 there were seven clubs. Rugby has competition from other popular sports such as water-polo, soccer, handball and mixed martial arts in Montenegro. Due to the small population of the country, rugby 7's is popular due to the game requiring fewer players. An official international 7s squad was named and sent to Greece for the ENC Division B competition in 2014. This is the start of Montenegro rugby in the international stage.
Results
The national sevens team made its international debut in Greece in 2014. The first international was played against the favorites Switzerland with the game ending final score 15–36 to Switzerland. The team progressed to the Bowl play-offs and defeated San Marino by 45–7 and Liechtenstein by 38–5 in the final to win the 2014 ENC Division B Bowl. After the reformatting of the sevens system by rugby Europe the national team place in a new conference system (conference 2) in a group with favourites Malta, Estonia and Belarus. The national team made good progress and finished in the final (a first final for sevens rugby) of that tournament losing out to Malta in the final but securing promotion to conference 1
Current Squad
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one nationality. Rugby clubs are in brackets.