Netherlands

Nickname(s)	Oranje (The Oranges)
Union	Dutch Rugby Union
Head coach	Lyn Jones
Captain	Dirk Danen
Most caps	Marc Visser (67)
Home stadium	NRCA Stadium
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	26 (as of 20 March 2023)
Highest	23 (2018)
Lowest	48 (2008)
First international
Netherlands 0–6 Belgium  (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1 July 1930)
Biggest win
Netherlands 62–0 Denmark  (Hilversum, Netherlands; 6 October 1973)
Biggest defeat
England 110–0 Netherlands  (Huddersfield, England 14 November 1998)
Website	www.rugby.nl

The Netherlands national rugby union team (Dutch: Nederlands nationaal rugby team) represents Netherlands in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed The Oranges (Oranje), is considered one of the stronger tier 3 teams in European rugby and currently compete in the second division of the Rugby Europe International Championships in the Rugby Europe Trophy, a competition which is just below the Rugby Europe Championship where the top 6 countries in Europe (apart from the teams in the Six Nations) compete. They are yet to participate in any Rugby World Cup.

History

The Netherlands played their first ever game in 1930, against Belgium on 1 July. The Netherlands played Belgium and Germany as well as Romania. During the 1940s they played regularly against Belgium and Germany. The 1960s saw the side play West Germany regularly as well as other fixtures including matches against Poland, Sweden, Spain and Czechoslovakia. The 1970s saw fixtures played against many teams, notably Scotland XV in October 1978 & Italy.

Record

Men's World Rugby Rankings Top 30 as of 25 December 2023[1]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		South Africa	094.54
2		Ireland	090.57
3		New Zealand	089.80
4		France	087.81
5		England	085.46
6		Scotland	083.43
7		Argentina	080.68
8		Wales	080.64
9		Australia	077.48
10		Fiji	076.38
11		Italy	075.93
12		Japan	074.27
13		Portugal	072.78
14		Georgia	072.68
15		Samoa	072.23
16		Tonga	071.57
17		United States	067.94
18		Uruguay	067.39
19		Romania	063.28
20		Spain	062.86
21		Canada	060.90
22		Namibia	060.56
23		Chile	060.49
24		Hong Kong	059.80
25		Russia	058.06
26		Switzerland	056.29
27		Netherlands	055.84
28		Brazil	055.37
29		Belgium	054.58
30		South Korea	053.46
* Change from the previous week
Netherlands's historical rankings
See or edit source data.
Source: World Rugby[1] Graph updated to 25 December 2023

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Netherlands national XV at test level up until 24 June 2021.

Opponents	Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	For	Aga	Diff	Win%
Andorra	3	3	0	0	140	116	+24	100%
Belgium	44	19	4	21	444	520	–76	43.2%
Bulgaria	1	1	0	0	45	10	+35	100%
Croatia	2	2	0	0	47	19	+28	100%
Czech Republic	5	3	0	2	136	91	+45	60%
Czechoslovakia	7	2	0	5	88	99	–11	28.5%
Denmark	10	9	0	1	311	57	+254	90%
East Germany	2	1	0	1	20	35	–15	50%
Georgia	4	1	0	3	64	164	–100	25%
Germany	14	6	0	8	175	220	–45	42.8%
Hong Kong	2	1	1	0	25	10	+15	50%
England	1	0	0	1	0	110	–110	0%
Israel	1	1	0	0	56	0	+56	100%
Italy	4	0	0	4	27	178	–151	0%
Emerging Italy	1	0	0	1	5	50	-45	0%
Japan	1	1	0	0	15	13	+2	100%
Latvia	3	3	0	0	134	23	+11	100%
Lithuania	3	2	0	1	90	34	+56	75%
Malta	1	1	0	0	27	9	+18	100%
Morocco	7	3	0	4	88	111	–23	42.86%
Moldova	3	1	0	2	77	85	–8	33.3%
Poland	20	7	2	11	280	317	–37	36.4%
Portugal	12	1	3	8	141	229	–88	29.1%
Romania	8	0	1	7	49	299	–250	6.25%
Russia	4	0	0	4	39	208	–169	0%
Serbia and Montenegro	6	4	0	2	93	40	+53	66.6%
Spain	14	0	1	13	107	394	–287	3.5%
South Korea	2	1	0	1	45	108	–63	50%
Sweden	19	18	0	1	444	186	+258	94.74%
Switzerland	2	2	0	0	47	22	+25	100%
Tunisia	5	4	0	1	86	53	+33	80%
Ukraine	4	1	0	3	71	88	–17	25%
Uganda	1	1	0	0	42	0	+42	100%
West Germany	28	9	1	18	279	481	–202	33.9%
Zimbabwe	1	0	0	1	7	30	–23	0%
Total	243	108	13	122	3732	4329	–597	44.44%

Current squad

On 22 January 2022, the following 49 players were called up for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship.^{[2] [3]}

Head Coach: Dick Muir (as of 2 June 2022)

• Caps Updated: 23 January 2021

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
Ross Bennie-Coulson	Hooker	(2000-10-18) 18 October 2000	16	DIOK *
Mark Darlington	Hooker	(1985-05-23) 23 May 1985	23	Maidenhead
Lars Linnenbank	Hooker	(1997-11-28) 28 November 1997	1	Dukes *
Mike Mbaud	Hooker	(1999-12-14) 14 December 1999	3	Ealing Trailfinders
David Anderson	Prop	(1995-08-04) 4 August 1995	1	Haagsche
Lodi Buijs	Prop	(2000-10-19) 19 October 2000	4	Haagsche *
Andrew Darlington	Prop	(1989-01-06) 6 January 1989	26	Beaune
Kieran Hogg	Prop	(1999-12-27) 27 December 1999	6	Unattached
Hugo Langelaan	Prop	(1990-03-27) 27 March 1990	31	Eemland *
Robin Moenen	Prop	(1995-11-28) 28 November 1995	12	DIOK *
Mink Scharink	Prop	(2000-07-12) 12 July 2000	0	Saracens
Jake Stamenković	Prop	(1999-10-03) 3 October 1999	4	DIOK
Koen Bloemen	Lock	(1998-05-13) 13 May 1998	7	Bourg-en-Bresse
Jim Boelrijk	Lock	(1994-02-06) 6 February 1994	10	‘t Gooi *
Louis Bruinsma	Lock	(2000-07-15) 15 July 2000	2	Stade Montois
Dennis van Dijken	Lock	(1999-08-25) 25 August 1999	1	Graulhet
Marijn Huis	Lock	(1999-11-28) 28 November 1999	3	Durham University
Christopher van Leeuwen	Lock	(1995-04-26) 26 April 1995	2	Suresnes
Jade Plane	Lock	(2001-02-18) 18 February 2001	0	Oyonnax
Dirk Danen	Back row	(1989-04-21) 21 April 1989	31	Hilversum *
Wolf van Dijk	Back row	(1999-12-02) 2 December 1999	10	DIOK
Guy van den Dries	Back row	(1993-09-28) 28 September 1993	1	Belsize Park
Dave Koelman	Back row	(2001-01-16) 16 January 2001	2	Castricum
Kevin Krieger	Back row	(1998-09-11) 11 September 1998	12	Haagsche
Blake Nightingale	Back row	(1992-05-02) 2 May 1992	10	‘t Gooi *
Christopher Raymond	Back row	(2000-12-16) 16 December 2000	2	Haarlem *
Liam Stone	Back row	(2000-10-01) 1 October 2000	0	Coventry
Niels van de Ven	Back row	(1992-04-20) 20 April 1992	5	Alcobendas
Maxou Zerdoun	Back row	(2000-10-13) 13 October 2000	1	Haagsche *
Mark Coebergh	Scrum-half	(1998-03-27) 27 March 1998	1	‘t Gooi *
Caleb Korteweg	Scrum-half	(1997-01-01) 1 January 1997	0	Stirling County
Hugo Schöller	Scrum-half	(1999-03-11) 11 March 1999	6	Coq Léguevinois
Jasey van Kampen	Fly-half	(1998-07-11) 11 July 1998	6	Haagsche
Marc Mistou	Fly-half	(1998-09-28) 28 September 1998	2	‘t Gooi *
Mees van Oord	Fly-half	(1999-04-27) 27 April 1999	9	DIOK *
Reinhardt Fortuin	Fly-half	(1996-01-30) 30 January 1996	2	Cheetahs
Willie du Plessis	Fly-half	(1990-06-05) 5 June 1990	0	Stade Montois
Storm Carroll	Centre	(1984-11-13) 13 November 1984	27	Haarlem
Jules Godfroy	Centre	(1997-01-14) 14 January 1997	0	Corrèze
Tyren Kroos	Centre	(2000-02-14) 14 February 2000	0	Agen
Daily Limmen	Centre	(2001-06-22) 22 June 2001	4	Castricum *
Oliva Sialau	Centre	(1994-03-01) 1 March 1994	3	Dukes *
David Weersma	Centre	(1996-04-09) 9 April 1996	15	Aparejadores
Daan van der Avoird	Wing	(2000-11-28) 28 November 2000	4	DIOK *
Jort Doornenbal	Wing	(2000-08-03) 3 August 2000	1	Castricum *
Jordy Hop	Wing	(1994-08-16) 16 August 1994	8	Haagsche
Reinier Pieters	Wing	(1996-11-28) 28 November 1996	3	Servette **
Bart Wierenga	Wing	(1999-08-26) 26 August 1999	4	Valence Romans
Te Hauora Campbell	Fullback	(2000-06-29) 29 June 2000	6	‘t Gooi *
Peter Lydon	Fullback	(1992-10-19) 19 October 1992	0	Rouen

• *: Also a member of Delta squad, playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
• **: Servette is a Swiss club but plays in the French league.

Current coaching staff

The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:^[5]

Name	Nationality	Role
Lyn Jones	WAL	Head coach
Gareth Gilbert	RSA	Assistant coach
Allard Jonkers	NED	Assistant coach
Emmanuel Peyrezabes	FRA	Strength and Conditioning coach
Antoine van den Berg	NED	Physiotherapist
Sebastiaan van Osch	NED	Physiotherapist
Kevan Gallagher	NED	Video analyst
Jan van Diest	NED	Manager

Past Coaches

Since 1997

Years	Coach
1997–2000	Geoff Old
2001–2004	Robbie Allen
2004	Alex O'Dowd
2005–2006	Iain Krysztofiak
2007	Eric Hangeveld
2008	Robin Raphael
2009	Hugues Dispas
2009	Robin Raphael (Caretaker)
2009–2010	Hugues Dispas
2010–2011	Jean Bidal
2011	Silvester Ramaker
2011–2016	Alex Chang
2016–2019	Gareth Gilbert
2019–2022	Zane Gardiner
2022	Dick Muir (interim)
2022–present	Lyn Jones

See also

• Rugby union in the Netherlands
• Dutch Rugby Union
• Netherlands women's national rugby union team
• Netherlands national under-20 rugby union team
• Netherlands national rugby sevens team
• Netherlands women's national rugby sevens team
• Sport in Netherlands

References

External links

• Dutch Rugby Union - Official Site (in Dutch)