Germany
2008–2010 season
Head coachRudolf Finsterer
Mark Kuhlmann
Bruno Stolorz
ChairmanClaus-Peter Bach
ENC First Division6th (relegated)
Top try scorerLeague: Krause (2)
All: Krause (3)
Top points scorerLeague: Wiedemann (11)
All: Wiedemann (20)
Highest home attendance3,400
Lowest home attendance2,000

Germany at the 2008–2010 European Nations Cup was the first time since 1981 that the German national rugby union team competed at the highest level of FIRA rugby, the European Nations Cup, during 2008–2010.[1]

Germany played ten competition games and two friendlies in its campaign. It lost all ten competition games and, with the exception of the two games against Spain, did so quite clearly, ultimately resulting in Germany's relegation back to the Division 2A for the 2010–12 season. Of the two warm-up friendlies, it lost its match against a Welsh Districts XV, too and managed to win only the game against Hong Kong. A third friendly, against a selection of the British Forces Germany, the British Army Germany rugby union team, had to be postponed twice because of bad weather and was eventually cancelled.[2][3]

Germany also played two friendlies against Switzerland, to contest the Alpencup, but these games were not counted towards the country's official record as the sides fielded were an under-21 side in 2008 and labelled as Germany A in 2009.[4][5]

Germany went into its campaign unbeaten at home, having last lost on 12 November 2000, to Ukraine. This record was broken on in its first game on 8 November 2008, when it lost to the Welsh XV.[6]

Background

The 2008–2010 European Nations Cup First Division was the seventh edition of the championship since it was reformed in 2000. The championship not only determined the champions of the ENC but it also acted as an element of European qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The top two teams qualified directly to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and the third-placed entered the European qualification playoffs.

The last placed team in the competition was relegated to the Division 2A.

Management and coaching

At the beginning of Germany's ENC campaign, it was coached by a troika, made up of Rudolf Finsterer, Bruno Stolorz and Mark Kuhlmann, under the supervision of Peter Ianusevici, Germany's Director of Rugby. Kuhlman resigned from his post in March 2009 after over three years of service, without being replaced, while the other two remained in their positions.[7] After losing its tenth and final ENC game, Rudolf Finsterer resigned, having spent ten years as coach of Germany.[8] Finsterer's decision however had been made before the game, and he had informed the team of his decision beforehand, too.[9]

With the international retirement of captain Jens Schmidt in May 2009, Mustafa Güngör became the new captain of the national team with his first game in this position being the one against Hong Kong.[10]

Debuts & retirements

Germany lost a number of players due to retirement during its ENC campaign, usually because most German players are still amateurs and their work commitments don't allow them to continue playing internationally. Along with two former captains, Colin Grzanna and Jens Schmidt, Germany lost two very important players in May 2009. Additionally, Gerrit van Look, Sebastien Chaule[11] and Pierre Faber were all long-term players in the team who terminated their international career.

Partly because of this, Germany fielded a large number of new and young players during its two-year ENC campaign. In the friendly match against Hong Kong alone, eight players made their debut for their country.[12] Anjo Buckman, Daniel Preussner, Mark Sztyndera, Patrick Schliwa, Alexander Hauck, Benjamin Ulrich, Raphael Hackl and Jamie Houston all fielded for Germany for the first time in this game and all have since played for Germany again.

A number of other players also made their debut during the 2008–10 campaign, these being Udo Schwarz, Juan Martin Goity (Wales XV, 2009), Benjamin Brierley, Damien Tussac (Georgia, 2009), Christopher Liebig (Portugal, 2009), Rob Elloway (Russia, 2009), Lukas Hinds-Johnson, Lukas Rosenthal, Guillaume Franke, Shalva Didebashvili, Steffen Liebig (Georgia, 2010), Alexander Metz (Romania, 2010), Fabian Heimpel (Portugal, 2010) and Gilles Pagnon (Russia, 2010).

Christopher Weselek and Michael Poppmeier, two players, returned to the squad after a lengthy absence.

Game locations

Of the seven home games Germany had in this campaign, four were held in Heidelberg and one each in Hanover, Heusenstamm and Berlin. The later was the first game of the German team to be held in the capital in over eight years.[13]

The five away games were in Madrid, Lisbon, Tbilisi, Sochi and Constanţa. The latter was originally scheduled for Bucharest but had to be moved to the Black Sea coast because of bad weather in the Romanian capital, a general issue affecting a number of test matches in early 2010 in Europe.[14]

Table

ENC Champions and Qualified as Europe 1
Qualified for 2011 Rugby World Cup
Qualified for Round 2
Relegated to 2A for 2010–2012

Table points are determined as follows:

  • 3 points for a win
  • 2 points for a draw
  • 1 point for a loss
  • 0 points for a forfeit
Place Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1 Georgia (16)10811326132+19427
2 Russia (17)10712291175+11625
3 Romania (19)10613282136+14623
4 Portugal (21)10514255149+10621
5 Spain (23)10208145304−15914
6 Germany (26)10001058461−40310

Games

ENC matches

15 November 2008
16:00
Spain 22–11 Germany
Try: Martín Goenaga 38'
Con: Riu 39'
Pen: Riu (4) 4', 17', 57', 60'
Drop: Riu 20'
(Report)
(Line up)
Try: Wiedemann 23'
Pen: Wiedemann (2) 2', 54'
Campo Universitaria, Madrid
Attendance: 8,000
Referee: Paolo Ventura (Italy)

7 February 2009
14:00
Germany 5–38 Georgia
Tries: Brierley 14'(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Chkhikvadze 20', Zirakashvili 31', Machkhaneli 56', Gorgodze 62', Kacharava 80'
Con: Kvirikashvili (4) 56', 62', 72', 80'
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Graham Knox (Scotland)

14 February 2009
14:00
Germany 0–22 Romania
(Report)
(Line up)
Try: Burbuliceanu 7', Fercu 65', Mitu 79'
Con: Mitu (2) 7', 65'
Pen: Mitu 57'
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Colin Stanley (Ireland)

21 February 2009
15:00
Portugal 44–6 Germany
Try: Silva 12', Mateus 15', Foro 66', Uva 71', Murré 80'
Con: Cabral (2) 12', 15', Leal (3) 66', 71', 80'
Pen: Cabral (2) 6', 36', Leal 58'
(Report)
(Line up)
Pen: Davies (2) 3', 50'
Estádio Universitário de Lisboa, Lisbon
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Stefano Penne (Italy)

2 May 2009
15:00
Germany 0–53 Russia
(Report)
(Line up)
Try: Kushnarev 20', Kluchnikov 33', Gresev 40', Trishin 63', Gvosdovskiy 69', Garbuzov 77', Matveyev 79'
Con: Kushnarev 20', 33', Motorin 63', 69', 77', 79'
Pen: Kushnarev 16', 43'
Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion, Hanover
Attendance: 3,400
Referee: JP Doyle (England)

6 February 2010
14:00
Georgia 77–3 Germany
Try: Penalty try 5', Nemsadze (2) 19', 26', Kvirikashvili (2) 22', 68', Machkhaneli (2) 29', 52', Samkharadze (2) 34', 46', Zibzibadze 77', Udesiani 80'
Con: Kvirikashvili (11) 5', 11', 19', 22', 26', 29', 34', 52', 68', 77', 80'
(Report)
(Line up)
Pen: Davies 33'
Boris Paichadze Stadium, Tbilisi
Referee: Patrick Pechambert (France)

13 February 2010
13:30
Romania 67–5 Germany
Tries: Calafeteanu, Carpo (2), Ciuntu, Dimofte, Dragoș Dima, Dumitraș, Fercu, Sîrbu, Tonița, Zebega
Con: Calafeteanu (3), Vlaicu (3)
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Sztyndera
Stadionul Constructorul Cleopatra, Constanţa
Referee: Claudio Passacantando (Italy)

27 February 2010
14:15
Germany 0–69 Portugal
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Oliveira 7', Foro (3) 14', 64', 77', Correia 29', Fernandes 35', Mateus 40', Uva 55', Leal 76'
Pen: Cabral (2) 27', 46'
Con: Cabral (5) 3', 7', 29', 35', 49', Gardener (4) 55', 64', 75', 77'
Kultur- und Sportzentrum Martinsee, Heusenstamm
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Neil Paterson (Scotland)

13 March 2010
15:00
Russia 48–11 Germany
Tries: Penalty try 12', Kluchnikov 39', Ostroushko 47', 69', Artemiev 53', Babaev 58', Minadze 60'
Pen: Kushnarev (2) 18', 21', Kluchnikov 55'
Con: Kushnarev 12', Kluchnikov 39'
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Krause 83'
Pen: Güngör (2) 15', 51'
Central Stadium, Sochi
Attendance: 200
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)

20 March 2010
14:30
Germany 17–21 Spain
Tries: Krause 60', Grumbkow 70'
Pen: Heimpel 23'
Con: Heimpel (2) 60', 70'
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Heredia (2) 17', 42', Cidre 80'
Pen:
Con: Sempere (3) 17', 42', 80'
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Carlo Damasco (Italy)

Friendlies

8 November 2008
14:00
Germany 14–27Wales Welsh Districts XV
Tries: Krause 72'
Pen: Wiedemann (3) 12', 26', 36'
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Bonnell 21', Martin 46', Howells 56', M. Davies 60'
Pen: Howells 41'
Con: Howells (2) 46', 56'
Hanns-Braun-Stadion, Berlin
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Zeszutek (Poland)

12 December 2009
14:30
Germany 24–14 Hong Kong
Tries: D. Davies 6', Simm 24', Pipa 60'
Pen: K. Davies (3) 15', 20', 74'
(Report)
(Line up)
Tries: Penalty Try 43', Hewson 80'
Con: Perkins 43', Hadley 80'
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Horatiu Bargaunas (Romania)

16 January 2010
14:00
Germany P–P British Army Germany XV
(Report)
Sportanlage der britischen Kaserne, Gütersloh

31 January 2010
14:00
Germany P–P British Army Germany XV
(Report)
Sportzentrum am Burgweg, Rheda-Wiedenbrück

Player statistics

Squad

The following players were part of the German team during its 2008–10 campaign:[15][16]

  • Clubs listed are the club or clubs a player played for while playing for Germany in 2008–10, not current club.

Games

The following players have been selected for Germany from 2008 to 2010 in the country's European Nation Cup campaign and in friendlies:

Player Caps [17] 2008 2009 2010
W XV Spa Geo Rom Por Rus HK Geo Rom Por Rus Spa
Benjamin Krause 38 [18] 1 1 19 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 downward-facing red arrow 2 17 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 1 downward-facing red arrow
Alexander Widiker 38[19] 3 3 1 1 downward-facing red arrow 1 1 2 1 downward-facing red arrow 1 yellow card 2 2
Tim Coly 35 [18] 2 downward-facing red arrow 2 yellow card 2 downward-facing red arrow 2 downward-facing red arrow 2 2 3 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 2 downward-facing red arrow 3 3
Manuel Wilhelm 32 5 downward-facing red arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow 8 downward-facing red arrow 4 4 4 4 downward-facing red arrow 4 4 4 downward-facing red arrow
Bodo Sieber 22 [20] 7 4 5 5 5 downward-facing red arrow 5 (c) 5
Jamie Houston 6 [21] 2 downward-facing red arrow 6 6 6 7 6 downward-facing red arrow
Kehoma Brenner 13 [22] 21 upward-facing green arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow 7 yellow card 7 downward-facing red arrow 6 7 yellow card
Robert Mohr 8 8 downward-facing red arrow 5 8
Raphael Pyrasch 7 [23] 16 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow yellow card 22 upward-facing green arrow 9 yellow card 9 downward-facing red arrow
Fabian Heimpel 2 [24] 10 10
Christopher Weselek 28 [20] 11 yellow card 14 11
Clemens von Grumbkow 29 11 11 11 downward-facing red arrow 11 yellow card downward-facing red arrow 13 12 13 13 13 downward-facing red arrow 12 downward-facing red arrow 12
Gilles Pagnon 2 [25] 13 13 downward-facing red arrow
Mustafa Güngör 32 [10] 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 (c) 9 (c) 9 (c) 9 (c) 10 (c) 14 (c)
Raphael Hackl 6 [21] 22 upward-facing green arrow 15 15 downward-facing red arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 15 15 downward-facing red arrow
Damien Tussac 4 16 upward-facing green arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow
Jens Schmidt 38 [26] 4 downward-facing red arrow (c) 5 (c) 4 (c) 4 (c) 4 (c) 17
Michael Poppmeier 8 downward-facing red arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow 5 18 upward-facing green arrow
Alexander Pipa 17 upward-facing green arrow 8 19 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Simm 16 13 13 downward-facing red arrow 11 14 downward-facing red arrow 11 11 downward-facing red arrow 21 upward-facing green arrow 11 20 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Ulrich 2 [21] 13 downward-facing red arrow 21 upward-facing green arrow
Kieron Davies 34 [18] 12 13 10 downward-facing red arrow 10 10 12 downward-facing red arrow 10 10 10 15 22 upward-facing green arrow
Rolf Wacha 8 [23] 18 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 5 downward-facing red arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow 18 5 downward-facing red arrow
Alexander Hauck 5 [21] 19 upward-facing green arrow 8 downward-facing red arrow 8 8 8 downward-facing red arrow
Patrick Schliwa 2 [21] 17 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 16
Alexander Metz 3 [27] 18 upward-facing green arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow
Lukas Rosenthal 1 18 upward-facing green arrow 18
Lukas Hinds-Johnson 3 17 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow
Mark Sztyndera 4 [21] 21 upward-facing green arrow 14 downward-facing red arrow 14 14 downward-facing red arrow 20
Steffen Liebig 1 21 upward-facing green arrow 21 21
Anjo Buckman 2 20 upward-facing green arrow 22 upward-facing green arrow
Edmoore Takaendesa 10 15 15 downward-facing red arrow 12 15 15 12 12 12 downward-facing red arrow
Alexander Hug 7 [23] 22 upward-facing green arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow 6 downward-facing red arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow
Marcus Trick 19 20 upward-facing green arrow 17 17 16 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow
Rob Elloway 2 18 upward-facing green arrow 2
Christopher Liebig 2 22 upward-facing green arrow 22 upward-facing green arrow
Daniel Preussner 2 22 18 upward-facing green arrow 5 downward-facing red arrow
Shalva Didebashvili 1 7 downward-facing red arrow
Guillaume Franke 1 22 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Brierley 5 [28] 14 downward-facing red arrow 14 14 14 downward-facing red arrow 11
Domenick Davies 15 15 downward-facing red arrow
Pierre Faber 22 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow
Tim Kasten 23 [29] 6 downward-facing red arrow 6 downward-facing red arrow upward-facing green arrow 6 yellow card 6 6 yellow card 6
Timur Tekkal 8 downward-facing red arrow
Colin Grzanna 26 12 12 13 10
Lars Eckert 22 [29] 17 upward-facing green arrow yellow card 20 21 upward-facing green arrow 21 upward-facing green arrow 12 downward-facing red arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow
Sebastien Chaule 15 [11] 20 upward-facing green arrow
Thorsten Wiedemann 6 [23] 10 downward-facing red arrow 10 15 22 upward-facing green arrow 21 upward-facing green arrow 21
Benjamin Danso 13 19 upward-facing green arrow 18 18 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow
Marten Strauch 8 [20] 13 21 upward-facing green arrow 22 upward-facing green arrow
Gerrit van Look 17 [20] 8 7
Matthieu Franke 10 [30] 14 downward-facing red arrow
Christian Baracat 5 [23] 3 downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow downward-facing red arrow
Markus Walger 17 [29] 22 upward-facing green arrow
Juan Martin Goity 1 [31] 11 downward-facing red arrow
Udo Schwarz 1 [31] 14
  • Number of caps as of end of ENC campaign, 20 March 2010, not overall
  • Bold numbers indicate player played in the game
  • Italics indicates did not play
  • downward-facing red arrow denotes substituted off
  • upward-facing green arrow denotes substituted on
  • (c) denotes captain
  • yellow card denotes sin bin

Scorers (ENC)

Scorers (Friendlies)

References

  1. Deutschland vor Rückkehr in Division 1 Archived 26 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Rugby-Journal, accessed: 24 March 2010
  2. Testspiel in Gütersloh fällt aus (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 12 January 2010, accessed: 24 March 2010
  3. Testspiel gegen British Forces Germany fällt aus (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 28 January 2010, accessed: 24 March 2010
  4. Nationalteams holten den Alpencup zurück (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 27 September 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  5. Deutsche U21-Auswahl soll Alpencup verteidigen (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 27 September 2008, accessed: 27 March 2010
  6. Deutschland vor Rückkehr in Division 1 Archived 26 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Rugby Journal - Match report, accessed: 25 March 2010
  7. Mark Kuhlmann nicht mehr DRV-Nationaltrainer (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 9 March 2009, accessed: 25 February 2010
  8. Deutschland steigt ab / Finsterer tritt zurück (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 20 March 2010, accessed: 20 March 2010
  9. Finsterer: “Immer positiv nach vorne blicken!” (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 23 March 2010, accessed: 24 March 2010
  10. 1 2 Güngör neuer Kapitän der National-XV (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  11. 1 2 Sebastien Chaule beendet Rugby-Karriere (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 30 October 2009, accessed: 27 February 2010
  12. Deutschland besiegt Hongkong mit 24:14 (16:0) (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 12 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  13. Nach mehr als acht Jahren wieder ein Länderspiel in Berlin (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 4 November 2008, accessed: 25 March 2010
  14. Rumänien gegen Deutschland in Constanza (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 11 February 2010, accessed: 25 March 2010
  15. Deutschland Herren XV Archived 25 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine DRV website, accessed: 26 December 2008
  16. Mannschaftskader Deutschland (in German) totalrugby.de - Team Germany, accessed: 25 March 2010
  17. Rugby international news accessed: 24 February 2009
  18. 1 2 3 Neues vor dem Länderspiel II: Minister Niebel kommt (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 10 December 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010
  19. Widiker: “Für mich zählt nur der Aufstieg” (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 19 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010
  20. 1 2 3 4 Marten Strauch (5), Gerrit van Look (15), Bodo Sieber (15) and Christopher Weselek (25) received awards for set number of games after the Germany versus Netherlands game on 26 April 2008.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Raphael Hackl, Patrick Schliwa, Benjamin Ulrich, Alexander Hauck, Jamie Houston and Mark Sztyndera made their debut against Hong Kong on 12 December 2009.
  22. Kehoma Brenner made his debut for Germany against Moldova on 11 November 2006.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Dennis Walger, Thorsten Wiedemann, Raphael Pyrasch, Rolf Wacha, Christian Baracat and Alexander Hug all made their debut in Germany's game against Switzerland on 29 September 2007.
  24. Germany - Portugal (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 2 March 2010
  25. EM-Division 1: DRV-Kader für Spiel in Russland (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 4 March 2010, accessed: 14 March 2010
  26. Jens Schmidt made his 35th appearance for the German team against Spain on 15 November 2008 Archived 20 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  27. DRV XV: Kader für Länderspiel in Rumänien benannt (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 8 February 2010, accessed: 23 March 2010
  28. Germany - Georgia (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 7 February 2009, accessed: 27 February 2010
  29. 1 2 3 Tim Kasten, Markus Walger and Lars Eckert received the silver merrit of the DRV after each playing their 15th game for Germany against Molavia on 24 November 2007. Stephen Williams debut for Germany in this game.
  30. Matthieu Franke (in German) DRV website, accessed: 30 April 2012
  31. 1 2 Deutsche Aufstellung für Spiel gegen Wales Amateure (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 November 2008, accessed: 26 March 2010
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