Germany national rugby sevens team

The German national rugby sevens team competes in the top-level European sevens competition, the Sevens Grand Prix Series. In 2012, Germany finished eleventh out of twelve teams and avoided relegation. The team also unsuccessfully took part in the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens qualifying tournament in Moscow in July 2012.

Germany
Shirt badge/Association crest
NicknameWolfpack
UnionDeutscher Rugby-Verband
Head coachPablo Feijoo
CaptainCarlos Soteras Merz
First colours
Second colours
Rugby World Cup Sevens
Appearances1 (First in 2022)
Best result18th in 2022

In 2015 Germany qualified to the Final 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament, where they failed to qualify for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[1]

Germany won the 2019 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series, an equivalent to European Championships in other team sports.

History

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The German national rugby sevens team at the Oktoberfest Sevens in Munich 2017

The team has taken part in the Hong Kong Sevens tournament in the past, its greatest success being a win in the Bowl final in 1990, beating Thailand 28–12.[2] In the 1990s, the team, captained by Rainer Kumm, took part in a number of international tournaments including the Punta del Este Sevens in 1997, where they lost to Argentina in the Plate final and the Paris Sevens in 1996, 1997 (when they defeated Romania in the Bowl final) and 1998 (Bowl finalists, losing to Japan in the final).

Kumm retired in 2000 to take up coaching and was replaced as captain by Mark Schulze, who led the team to the 2000 Sri Lanka Sevens, where they reached the cup semi-final, having won their pool and defeated Hong Kong in the quarter-final.

In 2000 the German Rugby Federation celebrated its centenary. Centenary celebrations included the hosting in 2000 the European leg of qualifying for the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Heidelberg, followed by a Centenary banquet in the Heidelberg Castle. In the tournament the German team thrashed Switzerland and Yugoslavia and lost 12–35 to Ireland, who had Gordon D'Arcy in their line-up.

In 2005 Germany hosted the 2005 World Games where Germany participated in the rugby sevens tournament. After losing all three games on the first day of the tournament, Germany went on to the Bowl semi-finals where they lost 35–12 against France and 31–17 against Japan in the seventh-place final.

After years of playing in the lower ranks of the Sevens Grand Prix, Germany started a continuous rise which ultimately led to a second place in the 2018 Sevens Grand Prix behind Ireland and to winning the 2019 Sevens Grand Prix ahead of France. Since 2016 they participated four times in the Hong Kong Sevens Qualifier where they reached the finals twice.

Germany qualified for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series.[3] In round one of the series they went undefeated in their pool, even beating eventual winners, Kenya.[4] However, losses to Chile in the semi-final, and to Uruguay in the bronze final saw them finish in fourth place.[4] They finished fourth in the overall series and qualified for the SVNS promotion and relegation play-off competition at the 2024 Spain Sevens.[5][6]

Tournament history

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World Cup Sevens record

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Rugby World Cup Sevens Record
Year Round Position Pld W L D
  1993 Did not qualify
  1997
  2001
  2005
  2009
  2013
  2018
  2022 Bowl Final 18th 4 2 2 0
Total 0 Titles 1/8 4 2 2 0

Summer Olympics record

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Olympic Games
Year Round Position Pld W L D
  2016 Did not qualify
  2020
Total 0 Titles 0/0 0 0 0 0

World Rugby Sevens Series

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World Series Record
Season Position
1999–00 22nd
2003–04 15th
2008–09 17th
2016–17 Did Not Qualify
2017–18
2018–19
2019–20
2021 7th
2021-22 18th
2022-23 20th
Total 0 Titles

World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series

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Sevens Challenger Series
Year Position
    2020 3rd
2021 Not held
  2022 4th
  2023 3rd
      2024 4th

World Games

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World Games
Year Round Position Pld W L D
2001 Akita Did not qualify
2005 Duisburg 7th Place Finalist 8th 5 0 5 0
2009 Kaohsiung Did not qualify
2013 Cali

Rugby Europe Sevens

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Rugby Europe Sevens
Year Round Position
  2002 Third Place 3rd
  2003 Fourth Place 4th
  2004 Fifteenth Place 15th
  2005 Sixth Place 6th
  2006 Not played
  2007 Ninth Place 9th
  2008 Seventh Place 7th
  2009 Ninth Place 9th
  2010 Not played
  2011 Champions 1st (promoted)
  2012 Eleventh Place 11th
    2013 Eleventh Place 11th
  2014 Tenth Place 10th
  2015 Fifth Place 5th
  2016 Fourth Place 4th
  2017 Fifth Place 5th
  2018 Runners-up 2nd
    2019 Champions 1st
    2021 Runners-up 2nd
    2022 Runners-up 2nd
Total 1 Title 17/20

Honours

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Rugby Europe Sevens

Current squad

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Squad for the 2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in Dubai.[7]

No. Players
1 Felix Hufnagel
2 Bastian van der Bosch
3 John Dawe
4 Niklas Koch
5 Maximilian Heid
8 Ben Ellermann
9 Max Roddick
11 Philip Gleitze
12 Tim Lichtenberg
30 Daniel Eneke
71 Chris Umeh
99 Jakob Dipper

References

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  1. ^ Der DRV-Arbeitsplan “Rugby auf dem Weg nach Olympia 2016” (in German) totalrugby.de, author: Claus-Peter Bach, published: 19 October 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2010
  2. ^ Hong Kong Sevens finals: 1990's Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine Hong Kong Sevens official website. Retrieved 9 February 2009
  3. ^ "Sevens captains ready for the challenge in Dubai". www.world.rugby. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b "China and Kenya celebrate Challenger 2024 success in Dubai". www.world.rugby. 14 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  5. ^ "China women and Uruguay men win World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024". www.world.rugby. 19 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  6. ^ "Uruguay, Kenya, Chile and Germany qualify for men's HSBC SVNS Play-Off in Madrid". www.world.rugby. 19 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  7. ^ "2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series squad list" (PDF). World Rugby. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
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