The Madagascar national rugby union team represents

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

in the sport of

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. Although rugby is popular in Madagascar, the country has not yet qualified for a

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

. It does compete annually in the

Africa Cup The Rugby Africa Cup is a two-year men's rugby union tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on their World Rugby rankings, it is organised by Rugby Africa. The tournament was first held in 2000. It was renamed the Rugby Africa Cup ...

, and was runner-up to

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

in 2007. The national team's nickname is the Malagasy name for the

ring-tailed lemur The ring-tailed lemur (''Lemur catta'') is a medium- to larger-sized strepsirrhine (wet-nosed) primate and the most internationally recognized lemur species, owing to its long, black-and-white, ringed tail. It belongs to Lemuridae, one of fiv ...

. Madagascar defeated 57 - 54 in extra-time to win Group 1B final match at the 2012 Africa Cup; they have now jumped up 14 places to their current 42nd rank.

History

Madagascar played their first ever international rugby match in 1970, where they met

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, losing 9 points to 17. The second of the series of two games was also won by Italy, 6 points to 9. The team got their first international win during 1987 when they defeated

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

22 to 16. During 2001 Madagascar competed for the first time in the Africa qualification tournaments for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

to be held in Australia. They started off in Pool B of Round 1, where they contested matches against

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

. They won both their games and finished at the top of the pool to advance to the next round. In Round 2 they defeated Kenya and

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

to secure the top finish and advance to Round 3, which took place in 2002. Madagascar made their exit in Round 3, losing to

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. Madagascar attempted to qualify for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

in France. They started off in Pool 2 of Round 1b of the qualifying tournament, where they were grouped with Kenya and

. After drawing with Kenya, they lost to Uganda and finished third in the standings. They were semi-finalists at the 2006 Africa Cup, and losing finalists in 2005 and 2007. Madagascar also failed to qualify 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 World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

. It is currently involved in the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifyings. Madagascar was the surprise winner of the 2012 Africa Cup, defeating Namibia 57–54 in an historical final. In 2013 the Makis avoided relegation from the top flight of African rugby and remain in Division 1A of the

for 2014, which will serve as the African qualification for the

2015 Rugby World Cup The IRB 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was ...

. Madagascar wins serendib cup 2013 in Sri Lanka, beating Sri Lanka on a score of 17-12 and dominating Poland on 25–21 score, José Rakoto won the player of the tournament.

Squad

Madagascar squad for the 2014 Africa Cup.

Overall Record

Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Madagascar national XV at test level up until 12 July 2021

World Cup Record

References

External links