At a challenging time in Israeli life, history was made at the beautiful Yizre’el Rugby Stadium with the first ever local professional rugby fixture. The Golden Jackals, the south and central regional selection, defeated the Northern Star, representing northern Israel, 23-17.
The large crowd was treated to some of the best rugby ever played in the country. The teams were selected primarily from Israeli national team players and quality international professionals from South Africa, Fiji and other major rugby nations. The exciting match went down to the wire and decided on the final play.
Rugby-Israel national team coach and technical director, Kevin Musikanth, said: “Fantastic first regional league match. Great jobs by the coaching staffs assembling the two teams from different clubs in a bit of a ‘Barbarian’ feel. The foreign players slotted in well and the standard was really high.
The match was broadcast live on several platforms and was preceded by several age group tournaments.
There was a moving moment prior to the match. Oren Agmon, father of Adam Agmon was presented with a signed New Zealand All Blacks jersey. Adam, a New Zealand native and die-hard All Blacks supporter, was killed while rescuing civilians on October 7th.
