Germany at the 2008–10 European Nations Cup

Germany at the 2008–10 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 2008-10.[1]

Germany
2008-10 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
← 2006–08 2010-12 →

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 7th 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
2008-11-15
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)
2009-02-07
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)
2009-02-14
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)
2009-02-21
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)
2009-05-02
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)
2010-02-06
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)
2010-02-13
13:30
Romania  67 – 5 Germany 
Tries: Calafeteanu , Carpo (2), Ciuntu , Dimofte , Dragos Dima , Dumitras , Fercu , Sirbu , Tonita , Zebega
Con: Calafeteanu (3) , Vlaicu (3)		 (Report)
(Line up)		 Tries: Sztyndera
Stadionul Constructorul Cleopatra, Constanţa
Referee: Claudio Passacantando (Italy)
2010-02-27
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)
2010-03-13
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)
2010-03-20
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
2008-11-08
14:00
Germany  14 – 27 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)
2009-12-12
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)
2010-01-16
14:00
Germany  P – P British Army Germany XV
(Report)
Sportanlage der britischen Kaserne, Gütersloh
2010-01-31
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 16 16 16 1 2 17 16 1 1
Alexander Widiker 38[19] 3 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2
Tim Coly 35 [18] 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 3 3
Manuel Wilhelm 32 5 19 18 18 8 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Bodo Sieber 22 [20] 7 4 5 5 5 5 (c) 5
Jamie Houston 6 [21] 2 6 6 6 7 6
Kehoma Brenner 13 [22] 21 17 17 19 7 7 7 6 7
Robert Mohr 8 8 5 8
Raphael Pyrasch 7 [23] 16 20 20 22 9 9
Fabian Heimpel 2 [24] 10 10
Christopher Weselek 28 [20] 11 14 11
Clemens von Grumbkow 29 11 11 11 11 13 12 13 13 13 12 12
Gilles Pagnon 2 [25] 13 13
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 15 15 20 15 15
Damien Tussac 4 16 17 3 16
Jens Schmidt 38 [26] 4 (c) 5 (c) 4 (c) 4 (c) 4 (c) 17
Michael Poppmeier 8 7 5 18
Alexander Pipa 17 8 19 19
Benjamin Simm 16 13 13 11 14 11 11 21 11 20
Benjamin Ulrich 2 [21] 13 21
Kieron Davies 34 [18] 12 13 10 10 10 12 10 10 10 15 22
Rolf Wacha 8 [23] 18 20 20 5 19 18 5
Alexander Hauck 5 [21] 19 8 8 8 8
Patrick Schliwa 2 [21] 17 16 16
Alexander Metz 3 [27] 18 17 17
Lukas Rosenthal 1 18 18
Lukas Hinds-Johnson 3 17 19 19
Mark Sztyndera 4 [21] 21 14 14 14 20
Steffen Liebig 1 21 21 21
Anjo Buckman 2 20 22
Edmoore Takaendesa 10 15 15 12 15 15 12 12 12
Alexander Hug 7 [23] 22 7 20 7 6 7
Marcus Trick 19 20 17 17 16 16
Rob Elloway 2 18 2
Christopher Liebig 2 22 22
Daniel Preussner 2 22 18 5
Shalva Didebashvili 1 7
Guillaume Franke 1 22
Benjamin Brierley 5 [28] 14 14 14 14 11
Domenick Davies 15 15
Pierre Faber 22 3 3 3 3
Tim Kasten 23 [29] 6 6 6 6 6 6
Timur Tekkal 8
Colin Grzanna 26 12 12 13 10
Lars Eckert 22 [29] 17 20 21 21 12 19
Sebastien Chaule 15 [11] 20
Thorsten Wiedemann 6 [23] 10 10 15 22 21 21
Benjamin Danso 13 19 18 18 18
Marten Strauch 8 [20] 13 21 22
Gerrit van Look 17 [20] 8 7
Matthieu Franke 10 [30] 14
Christian Baracat 5 [23] 3 16
Markus Walger 17 [29] 22
Juan Martin Goity 1 [31] 11
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.
  • denotes substituted off.
  • denotes substituted on.
  • (c) denotes captain.
  • denotes sin bin.

Scorers (ENC)

Scorers (Friendlies)

References
  1. Deutschland vor Rückkehr in Division 1 Archived 2008-06-26 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 2008-06-26 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. Güngör neuer Kapitän der National-XV (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  11. 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 2007-10-25 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Deutsche Aufstellung für Spiel gegen Wales Amateure (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 November 2008, accessed: 26 March 2010
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.