Turkey national rugby union team

The Turkey national rugby union team is a relatively recent creation, being started at the end of 2009. Turkey is currently a third-tier side. The team first played in 2012 against Slovakia and won 31–5 in Bratislava. On tour, they also defeated Estonia 49–5 in Tallinn.^[1] Turkey has yet to play in the qualifying stages for the Rugby World Cup finals.

Turkey

Nickname	Ay Yıldızlar (The Crescent Stars)
Union	Turkish Rugby Federation
Head coach	Niall Doherty
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	83 (as of 4 November 2024)
Highest	83 (4 November 2024)
Lowest	94 (29 January 2024)
First international
Turkey 31–5 Slovakia  (19 April 2012)
Biggest win
Turkey 55–3 Slovakia  (23 November 2013)
Biggest defeat
Ukraine 64–5 Turkey  (10 July 2021)
World Cup
Appearances	0

Rugby union in Turkey is administered by the Turkish Rugby Federation (Türkiye Ragbi Federasyonu). The federation is affiliated to Rugby Europe (formerly FIRA-AER),^[2] and as of 11th May 2023 a full member of World Rugby (formerly IRB).^[3] Murat Pazan is the federation's president.

Competitive record

Main articles: History of rugby union and Rugby Europe

Main article: Rugby Europe International Championships

Rugby Europe

• 2012–2014 European Nations Cup Third Division
• 2014–2016 European Nations Cup Second Division
• 2016–17 Rugby Europe Conference
• 2017–18 Rugby Europe International Championships
• 2018–19 Rugby Europe International Championships
• 2019–20 Rugby Europe International Championships
• 2021–22 Rugby Europe International Championships
• 2022–23 Rugby Europe International Championships
• 2023–24 Rugby Europe International Championships

Current squad

• Guven Tasoglu (Based in England)
• Abdullah Gunes (ODTÜ SK)
• Dinçhan Kilercioğlu (ODTÜ SK)
• Kemal Ege Gurkan (ODTÜ SK)
• Ertugrul Gunday (ODTÜ SK)
• Doğu Eroğlu (ODTÜ SK)
• Koray Kaya (Samsun RK)
• Adem Selim (Samsun RK)
• Selçuk Kozlu (Samsun RK)
• Yavuz Kocaer (Samsun RK)
• Mustafa Kemal Kurt (Koç Üniversitesi SK)
• Mehmet Akif Ersoy (Trakya Üniversites Ragbi)
• Deniz Krom (Kadıköy RK)
• Mert Zabci (Based in England)
• Murat Altun (Based in France)
• Semih Aydın (Based in France)
• Bahri Dagli (Based in France)
• Huseyin Sasmaz (Based in France)
• Ramazan Kilickaya (RC Vichy)
• Gokhan Ceylan (Based in France)
• Atilla Demir (Based in France)
• Necmi Kara (Based in France)
• Hüseyin Yesik (Based in France)
• Melikşah Kuzucu (Based in France)
• Kerim Galal (Based in Germany)
• Erkut Levent Durmus (Based in Germany)
• Ali Bökeyhan Sürer (Based in Germany)
• Tamer Celikbas James (Based in Wales)
• Cenk Tekin Akdeniz (Based in Scotland)
• Tarik Tin (Based in England)
• Arin Gulsen (Based in Wales)

Record

Overall

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by the Turkey national XV at test level up until 5 October 2024:

Against	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Andorra	2	1	1	0	50%
Austria	1	0	1	0	0%
Azerbaijan	2	2	0	0	100%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5	0	4	1	0%
Bulgaria	6	2	4	0	33.33%
Estonia	2	2	0	0	100%
Finland	2	1	1	0	50%
Moldova	2	0	2	0	0%
Montenegro	2	1	1	0	50%
Norway	2	1	1	0	50%
Serbia	5	1	4	0	20%
Slovakia	2	2	0	0	100%
Slovenia	1	0	1	0	0%
Total	34	13	20	1	38.24%

See also

• Rugby union in Turkey
• Samoa national rugby union team
• 2024 mid-year rugby union tests
• Test match (rugby union)
• Hurricanes (rugby union)
• List of South Africa rugby union test matches
• 2006 June rugby union tests
• Mid-year rugby union internationals
• World Rugby Rankings
• Rugby Europe
• List of women's international rugby union test matches
• 2018 June rugby union tests
• Autumn rugby union internationals

References

1. Preview Rugby Redefined. 2012.
2. Turkey Rugby Europe.
3. worldrugby.org. "Nepal, Qatar and Turkey become full members of World Rugby | World Rugby". www.world.rugby. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

External links

• Stephane Vincent is the top scorer of Turkey
• Turkish Rugby Union News, Teams and Match Results
• Şahin Kömürcü
• Turkish Rugby Federation
• Results