Cyprus march on with unsung winning streak in international rugby
Unsung Mediterranean side have quietly accumulated an unprecedented 21-match winning streak in the lower echelons of international play
Most Cypriots are blissfully unaware of it, but their national rugby XV have notched up a 21st straight triumph, thanks largely to former expats and foreign soldiers on the soccer-mad island.
A crowd of fewer than 500 turned up at the end of November in the coastal resort of Paphos to watch the team nicknamed the "Moufflons" beat Austria 22-8 in a somewhat disorganised but enthusiastic head-to-head at the less lofty levels of world rugby.
And the language on the field, among the supporters and in the local pub after the international, was very much English rather than Greek, reflecting the dual culture of the participants.
Rugby union was long confined to the two British military bases and the barracks of Argentine soldiers in the UN peacekeeping force on the divided Mediterranean island.
Locals only came into contact with the sport about a decade ago when Greek Cypriot expatriates started returning home from South Africa in large numbers.
After starting out with beach rugby in the southern resort, the ex-South Africans in 2003 founded the Paphos Tigers, growing in strength on the back of matches against army clubs.