Lithuania national rugby union team

Rugby was first introduced into Lithuania in 1961. However, as the country was a part of USSR, the national team could not be formed. After the collapse of the USSR, Lithuania could finally form their very own national team where they would start playing un-official friendlies against Latvia, their traditional rivals as well as representative team from Kaliningrad before finally playing their first official game against Germany, in 1993 where they lost with the score 31-5.

After the reestablishment of independence in 1990, Lithuania's rugby authorities worked to gain international recognition after gaining continetal recognition in 1991 by FIRA Europe (as it was known at the time) and by 1993, the national team were participating in the qualifying for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Lithuania also participated in the 1992-1994 FIRA Trophy competition at the bottom of the pyramid but failed to win any of their games. Later on in 1996, Lithuania had achieved their first official victory against Luxembourg during the qualifying competition for the 1999 World Cup. Overall, the 1990s were a poor decade for the national team, yet it must be considered that they were a relatively new country, never mind the fact that Lithuania started playing test match rugby in 1993.

Up until 2006, Lithuania was lingering in the middle of the third division of the European Nations Cup. However, a 100 percent record in their 2006-2008 European Nations Cup Third Division campaign earned them promotion from Division 3B to Division 3A. This effort was followed by another perfect record in the 2008-2010 European Nations Cup Third Division and a further promotion to Division 2A. Moreover, victories over Israel and the Netherlands would take them to the semifinal round of the European qualification torunament for a spot in the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final Place Play-off. The rise in form of the national had thus resulted in an increase in the popularity of the sport in Lithuania.

During their 2008–10 European Nations Cup campaign, Lithuania was credited with setting a new record for consecutive Test wins in men's rugby. Their 77–5 away win over Serbia on April 24, 2010 was listed as their 18th straight, surpassing the previous record set by New Zealand in 1965–69 and by South Africa in 1997–98.[1] This undefeated campaign, which could have led to a Lithuanian presence at the 2011 Rugby World Cup, ended in the 27–16 loss to Ukraine in the European qualifying semifinal. However, on later review, it was found that the first game in the 18-game sequence was in fact a loss, and as such are now credited with having held an equal record with South Africa and New Zealand (the record would later be broken by Cyprus in 2013). [2]

Head Coach: Ntando Manyosha

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

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Tomas Zibolis	Hooker	(1981-10-06) 6 October 1981	29	RK Šiauliai
Rokas Daknys	Prop	(1987-04-01) 1 April 1987	13	Šiauliai Vairas
Richardas Stankus	Prop	(1988-01-01) 1 January 1988	10	Šiauliai Vairas
Ignas Darkintis	Prop	(1989-02-08) 8 February 1989	15	Ordizia RE
Laurynas Tipelis	Prop	(1981-07-07) 7 July 1981	45	Šiauliai BaltRex
Žygimantas Radžius	Lock	(1990-06-30) 30 June 1990	8	RGC
Evaldas Gaubys	Lock	(1991-01-01) 1 January 1991	7	Šiauliai Vairas
Nerijus Mačiulis	Lock	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993	2	Šiauliai Vairas
Marius Andrijauskas	Flanker	(1980-01-01) 1 January 1980	26	Peterborough Lions RFC
Andrius Martinskas	Flanker	(1982-01-10) 10 January 1982	37	Enköpings RK
Domantas Tautkus	Flanker	(1993-06-02) 2 June 1993	1	Panevėžys Ryšių statyba
Justas Urbonas	Flanker	(1992-01-01) 1 January 1992	4	Šiauliai Vairas
Vaidotas Gaubas	Flanker	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993	1	Šiauliai BaltRex
Mindaugas Grigas	Number 8	(1980-08-06) 6 August 1980	28	Šiauliai Vairas
Mindaugas Misevičius	Scrum-half	(1982-01-01) 1 January 1982	45	Šiauliai Vairas
Tomas Astrauskas	Scrum-half	(1979-01-01) 1 January 1979	27	RK Šiauliai
Kęstutis Marcišauskas	Fly-half	(1985-07-24) 24 July 1985	36	Šiauliai Vairas
Mantas Maršantas	Fly-half	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993	2	Šiauliai BaltRex
Gediminas Marcišauskas	Centre	(1982-01-01) 1 January 1982	24	Peterborough Lions RFC
Gediminas Liutkus	Centre	(1982-01-01) 1 January 1982	36	Enköpings RK
Edmundas Ščiavinskas	Centre	(1981-04-26) 26 April 1981	36	Šiauliai BaltRex
Justas Vasiliauskas	Wing	(1985-01-01) 1 January 1985	33	Šiauliai Vairas
Mantautas Vilimavičius	Wing	(1992-01-01) 1 January 1992	2	Šiauliai Vairas
Donatas Vilimavičius	Wing	(1993-09-11) 11 September 1993	2	Šiauliai Vairas
Vytaras Bloškys	Fullback	(1991-08-30) 30 August 1991	6	Šiauliai BaltRex

The current coaching staff of the Lithuanian national team:[3]

Name	Nationality	Role
Rimantas Zeringis	LTU	Manager
Ntando Manyosha	RSA	Head coach
Karolis Navickas	LTU	Assistant coach
Mantvydas Tveraga	LTU	Assistant coach
Dr Paulius Sugintas	LTU	Team doctor
Arūnas Auga	LTU	Physiotherapist

• Rugby union in Lithuania
• Lietuvos Regbio Federacija
• Lithuania national rugby sevens team
• Lithuania women's national rugby sevens team
• Sport in Lithuania

• Lietuvos Regbio Federacija - Official Site (in Lithuanian)