The China national rugby union team represents the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

in international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

. China have yet to make their debut at the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

, but attempted to qualify in both 2003 and 2007. China play their home games in shirts of amber and red with the Chinese flag in the right chest and the away strip is a red shirt with amber sleeves, the red flag is not so clear but still on the away strip being the same colour as the shirt. The national side is ranked 82nd in the world.

History

China played its first international in 1997 against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. China attempted to qualify for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, taking part in the Asia qualifying tournaments. They started in Pool C of Round 1, playing matches against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

. Played in April, China lost 9-7 to Sri Lanka, and then defeated Kazakhstan 57-15. They finished at the top of the final standings due to a better points difference, and advanced to Round 2. However, they were knocked out in Round 2, losing both their fixtures against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by the ...

. China participated in qualifying competitions for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

as well. They started in Division 2 of Round 1, contesting matches against the

Arabian Gulf rugby union team The Arabian Gulf rugby union team was a combined team of players that represented the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in international rugby union competitions. The team competed in international matches between 1993 and 2010, and was gov ...

and Chinese Taipei. China defeated Chinese Taipei 22-19 in their first game, but lost against the Arabian Gulf team, seeing them finish second, and moving into Division 2 of Round 2. However, China lost both their fixtures in Round 2 against Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. China was slated to participate in qualifying for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

. However, they were forced to drop out due to visa complications. China's national sevens team regularly participates in legs of the annual sevens tour, appearing consistently in the Hong Kong tournament. China has traditionally fared quite well, with recent results including a bowl victory in 2007 and a win over Scotland in the 2008 pool stage.

History

Record

World Cup

Overall

Squad

See also

References

External links