Ukrainian Rugby Championship Kicks Off 2012 Season

RC Batyary (Lviv) rugby poster

The new season at all levels of rugby in Ukraine starts on 21 April and will run until November with a break during the summer.
The list of this year's teams looks as follows:

The Superliga, or the highest level of Ukrainian rugby, this year comprises 6 teams:

1. RC Credo-63 (Odessa)
2. RC Olymp (Kharkiv)
3. RC Epokha-Politechnic (Kiev)
4. RC Sokil (Lviv)
5. RC Obolon-Universitet (Khmelnytsky)
6. RC TEX-A-C (Kharkiv)

The second-level competition, known as Top League (Vyshcha Liga) includes 9 teams divided in 3 geographic groups:

Western Group
1. RC Batyary (Lviv)
2. RC Rivne (Rivne)
3. RC Roland (Ivano-Frankivsk)

Central Group 
1. RC Argo (Kiev)
2. RC Antares (Kiev)
3. RC Eager (Kiev)

Southern Group
1. RC Polytechnic (Odessa)
2. RC More (Feodosiya)
3. RC Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk)

There is also a separate competition for U23 age grade teams with 7 participants:
1. RC Polytechnic-2 (Kiev)
2. Combined Sports Schools (Kiev)
3. KIPU (Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University, based in Simferopol)
4. UIPA (Ukrainian Engineering and Pedagogical Academy, based in Khakiv)
5. RC Academia (Combined team of students from various universities in Odessa)
6. RC Donbass Tigers (Donetsk)
7. Hirnyk (Krivy Rih)

Rugby is also growing through amateur clubs in other cities, such as Ternopil, Zaporizhzhya and Sevastopol, but unfortunately lack of funds for travel expenses prevents these teams from participating in the nationwide competition this year. Hopefully in the near future local sponsors or government authorities may help them reach the next level and continue expanding rugby across Ukraine.

Source: http://uarugby.org.ua/

Youth Flag Rugby Expands to Two More Cities

Flag rugby in Rivne

Following the successful development of 5-on-5 indoor flag rugby in Odessa schools, similar leagues are starting to take hold in other cities across Ukraine. Last winter we reported about flag rugby in Ivano-Frankivsk, and this spring flag rugby competitions also began in Kharkiv in Rivne.

Flag rugby in Kharkiv

Kharkiv is a city of 1.4 million people and the home of Olymp rugby club, the national champion of Ukraine, so it was natural that the city rugby club should try to expand its fan base and build a pipeline of future players. 12 city schools entered the flag rugby competition for kids aged 11-13. In the future the league may expand to 16 teams.
In the western Ukrainian city of Rivne four teams began competing on 10 April, taking advantage of good weather and actually taking the game outside. Three or four more teams should be joining the league for the next round on 17 April. The Ukrainian Rugby Federation is hoping to continue this momentum and keep building the foundations of youth rugby in many more cities across Ukraine.

Sources:
Vecherniy Kharkov
Rivne Rugby