Haifa Wild Boars Explained

Country:Wild Boars
Union:Rugby Israel
Nickname:Wild Boars
President:Menahem Ben Menahem
Captain:Shahar Caufman
Coach:Yuri Vengerov
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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.

The team is part of Maccabi Haifa.

Club history

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.

SeasonPosition
2021/20227/8
2022/20233/8

Maccabi Haifa Women's Rugby

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

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

Current squad

PlayerPositionNationalityComments
Mario Del MastroProp/Hooker Italy
Asaf EladProp Israel
Ido AshkenazyProp Israel
Elad Alush Prop Israel
Antoine VinciguerraHooker/Flanker France
Ziv MellingHooker/Flanker Israel
Mohamed BarkehHooker/Flanker Israel
Robert HanhanLock/Prop Israel
Shahar CaufmanLock IsraelVice-Captain
Daniel GoldbergLock/Flanker/Prop Israel France Spain Mexico Canada
Boaz Ben MenachemFlanker/Number 8 Israel
Omri AfekFlanker/Center/Number 8 Israel
Barkev BarelianFlanker Israel Armenia
Ori WohlFlanker Israel
Nitai GorNumber 8 IsraelCaptain
Baheej BathishFlanker Israel Armenia
Yura VengerovNumber EightCoach
Jacques CohenSwiss Knife France Israel
Egor EgorovScrum Half/Fly HalfStrength and Conditioning Coach
Ron BartalScrum Half Israel
Ofir HaytmanScrum Half Israel
Yoav GolanScrum Half Israel
Nemani BuliruaruaFly Half FijiCenter Tel Aviv Heat
Yochanan ReisFly Half Israel
Eduard GladkovFull Back/Fly Half
Sailasa TuragaluvuCenter Fiji
Zacharia KornbluthCenter Israel United States
Or BeyarCenter/Winger Israel
Gaston LeibovichCenter Israel Mexico
Oded KasanCenter Israel
Zaza MgrebishviliWinger Georgia Israel
Rotem Ben EliezerWinger Israel
Dmitry KotovWinger/Full Back Kazakhstan Israel
Nimrod Ben MenachemFull Back Israel

Team Legends

NameNationalityRole
Menachem Ben Menachem IsraelFormer Player, President of the club. Former President of the Israel Rugby Union
Ziv Melling IsraelPlayer for more than 20 years. National Team caped player
Golan Van Meteren IsraelFormer 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 FranceFormer player of the Wild Boars team. Now one of the official referees of the Israeli Rugby Union.

External links