The Tel Aviv Heat (Hebrew: תל אביב היט, romanized: Tel Aviv Hit) is the first professional Israelirugby union team. Based in Tel Aviv, the team competed annually in the Rugby Europe Super Cup until 2023. The team is also called the Israeli Springboks, on account of the number of South Africans in the team and have also been described as 'the world's most diverse rugby team'.[1]
History
Tel Aviv Heat were formed in 2021 to play in the 2021–22 Rugby Europe Super Cup. The Rugby Europe Super Cup was open initially for the seven highest-ranked countries below the Six Nations, other Unions were given the opportunity to bid for an eighth ‘wild card’ slot, which the Israel Rugby Union submitted a formal bid for in December 2020. Having won that slot in March 2021, a founding team was put together to build a professional franchise from scratch.[2] Kevin Musikanth was named as the team’s first Director of Rugby and Head Coach for the inaugural season of the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
In their first season Tel Aviv finished 3rd in the Eastern Conference of the competition, however due to the disqualification on Yenisey-STM, Tel Aviv Heat advanced to the semi-finals, losing to the Western Conference winners Lusitanos XV, 42–26 in Lisbon.
In 2022 Tel Aviv began the season with a win over the Romanian Wolves in their inaugural Super Cup season. Tel Aviv came 2nd in the Eastern Conference winning four, drawing one and losing one. They once again faced the Lusitanos XV in the semi-final, this time winning 30–22 in Lisbon. However they lost against Black Lion in the final. In August 2022 Tel Aviv Heat were invited to join the South African Mzansi Challenge competition, however due to pressure from stakeholders SARU made the decision to withdraw their invitation in February 2023.[3][4] A partnership with the French Top 14 club Stade Français was announced in May 2023, where both teams exchange training methods and organize friendly matches.[5][6]
In the 2023 Rugby Europe Super Cup, Tel Aviv Heat were second in Group A, despite playing their games away from home due to the Israel–Hamas war and winning the semi-final against the Romanian Wolves 31–6 in Bucharest. Once again they played the Black Lion's in the final with the Georgian franchise winning 27–17 in Tbilisi.[1] Tel Aviv Heat have withdrawn from the 2024 competition due to ″various logistical elements″.[7]
(c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. * denotes players qualified to play for Israel on residency or dual nationality.
