Lithuania Retains Rugby World Record
November 2010
Lithuanian rugby team during their record breaking win against Serbia.
Photo courtesy rugby.lt
The defeat of New Zealand’s rugby team by Australia’s Wallabies in Hong Kong last Saturday October 30, 2010, had a fascinating outcome for rugby in Lithuania, in that thereby Lithuania retained the world rugby record of 18 consecutive international victories. In spite of the fact that in Lithuania rugby is not a major sport, Lithuania’s national rugby team nevertheless surprised everybody by pulling off this remarkable sequence of victories over the last four years.
Lithuania reached the world record of 18 international victories in a row earlier this year by defeating Serbia on April 24, 2010. This bettered the earlier equal records of 17 wins in a row achieved by New Zealand’s All Blacks (from 18/09/65 to 14/06/69) and South Africa’s Springboks (from 23/08/97 to 29/11/98). With a new sequence of 15 consecutive victories in hand, New Zealand was this year hoping to equal and better the record of the earlier All Blacks teams. But, unfortunately, their loss to Australia’s Wallabies last Saturday paid rest to that.
So Lithuania now retains its rugby world record status. Lithuania’s record breaking run began with a victory over Hungary in 2006 and came to an end in May 8, 2010 with Lithuania’s loss to Ukraine, but Lithuania’s record will not be bettered for many years to come. The popularity of rugby in Lithuanian is now bound to increase.

Further information:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/wallabies-hatch-great-snow-job/story-e6frg7mf-1225945857728
www.rugby.lt/naujienos/lithuania-claims-world-record-winning-run-looking-to-secure-even-greater-prize
www.guardian.co.uk 01/11/10