Maccabi Haifa Wild Boars (previously known simply as Haifa Rugby or Wild Boars) is one of the eight clubs affiliated to Rugby Israel. Based in Haifa, in the northern part of Israel.

Wild Boars
UnionRugby Israel
Nickname(s)Wild Boars
PresidentMenahem Ben Menahem
Coach(es)Yuri Vengerov
Captain(s)Shahar Caufman
Team kit
Change kit

The team is part of Maccabi Haifa.

Club history

edit

The club was formed by Alan Brazg, a student in the Technion, in the year 1971 and consisted mostly of immigrants from South Africa. The club was one of the first to bring rugby union to Israel, when the Israeli union was formed in 1972.

The team was ranked 3rd in the Israeli League season 2022-2023.


Season Position
2021/2022 7/8
2022/2023 3/8

Maccabi Haifa Women's Rugby

edit

Erez Weiss, a Haifa men’s player, promoted the birth of a women's rugby union team. With his enthusiasm, a team was formed in 2005 which included 7 team members and was coached by Menachem Ben Menachem and Nir Bar Or (2005/2006). Then, Yael Kenan took over as coach (2006/2007). Shaharit Golding was the most recent coach of the team (during the season 2018/2019).

Haifa women's team, also known as Maccabi Haifa Women's Rugby, won the Yizrael 7's tournament in 2007 and came in first place in the rugby tournament of Eilat games 2009. The team was in the top of the Israeli Rugby Union league, being ranked second 4 season in a row in the late 2000's.

Playing Grounds

edit

Maccabi Haifa Wild Boars' Home pitch is the Curly Krieger Stadium in Neve Sha'anan, Haifa.

Current squad

edit
Player Position Nationality Comments
Mario Del Mastro Prop/Hooker   Italy
Asaf Elad Prop   Israel
Ido Ashkenazy Prop   Israel
Elad Alush Prop   Israel
Antoine Vinciguerra Hooker/Flanker   Corsica   France
Ziv Melling Hooker/Flanker   Israel
Mohamed Barkeh Hooker/Flanker   Israel
Robert Hanhan Lock/Prop   Israel
Shahar Caufman Lock   Israel Vice-Captain
Daniel Goldberg Lock/Flanker/Prop   Israel   France   Spain   Mexico   Venezuela   Canada
Boaz Ben Menachem Flanker/Number 8   Israel
Omri Afek Flanker/Center/Number 8   Israel
Barkev Barelian Flanker   Israel   Armenia
Ori Wohl Flanker   Israel
Nitai Gor Number 8   Israel Captain
Baheej Bathish Flanker   Israel   Armenia
Yura Vengerov Number Eight   Russia Coach
Jacques Cohen Swiss Knife   France   Israel
Egor Egorov Scrum Half/Fly Half   Russia Strength and Conditioning Coach
Ron Bartal Scrum Half   Israel
Ofir Haytman Scrum Half   Israel
Yoav Golan Scrum Half   Israel
Nemani Buliruarua Fly Half   Fiji Center Tel Aviv Heat
Yochanan Reis Fly Half   Israel
Eduard Gladkov Full Back/Fly Half   Israel   Russia
Sailasa Turagaluvu Center   Fiji Lock Tel Aviv Heat
Zacharia Kornbluth Center   Israel   USA
Or Beyar Center/Winger   Israel
Gaston Leibovich Center   Israel   Mexico
Oded Kasan Center   Israel
Zaza Mgrebishvili Winger   Georgia   Israel
Rotem Ben Eliezer Winger   Israel
Dmitry Kotov Winger/Full Back   Kazakhstan   Israel
Nimrod Ben Menachem Full Back   Israel

Team Legends

edit
Name Nationality Role
Menachem Ben Menachem   Israel Former Player, President of the club. Former President of the Israel Rugby Union
Ziv Melling   Israel Player for more than 20 years. National Team caped player
Golan Van Meteren   Israel Former player in the team who faced more problems with referees than with other league players. Responsible of the rugby initiation course in the Technion.
Gilbert Cohen   Israel  France Former player of the Wild Boars team. Now one of the official referees of the Israeli Rugby Union.
edit