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/