Germany at the 2006–08 European Nations Cup

Germany at the 2006–08 European Nations Cup was the first time since 1981 that the German national rugby union team reached highest level of FIRA rugby, the European Nations Cup, by winning its group, the Division 2A in 2006–08.[1]

Germany
2006–08 season
Head coachRudolf Finsterer
Mark Kuhlmann
Bruno Stolorz
ChairmanClaus-Peter Bach
ENC Second DivisionChampions
Top try scorerLeague: Güngör (6)
Top points scorerLeague: Franke (96)
Highest home attendance8,213
← 2004–06 2008-10 →

Germany played eight competition games and three friendlies in its campaign. It won six of its eight competitive games, including all four home games, and all three friendlies. It played Switzerland twice, to contest the newly created Alpencup, which remained with Germany on both occasions.[2]

With over 8,000 spectators, Germany's home game against the Netherlands in Hanover, at the Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion, achieved the best crowd figures for a rugby match in Germany since the pre-Second World War days.[3]

Germany went into its campaign unbeaten at home, having last lost on 12 November 2000, to the Ukraine. It maintained this record, which was only broken early in its next campaign, on 8 November 2008, when it lost to a Welsh XV.[4]

Background

The division Germany was playing in, Division 2A, consisted of five teams, of which Ukraine had been relegated to from the First Division in the previous edition of the European Nations Cup.

The winner, Germany, earned promotion to the First Division, while the last placed team, the Netherlands, were relegated to Division 2B.

Management and coaching

At the beginning of Germany's ENC campaign, it was coached by a duo, made up of Rudolf Finsterer and Mark Kuhlmann, under the supervision of Peter Ianusevici, Germany's Director of Rugby.

In early 2008, the two were joined by Frenchman Bruno Stolorz.[5] Stolorz was seconded to the German team by the Fédération française de rugby to improve Germany's performance in the sport and is also a coach with French club team RC Orléans, where he fulfills the position of a Conseiller sportif auprès.[6][7]

Debuts and retirements

A number of German players made their final appearances for their country during the 2006-08 campaign, among them were regulars like Steffen Thier, Sascha Fischer and Klaus Mainzer.

The former were replaced by a number of debutants, among them the Zimbabwean Edmoore Takaendesa and the Australian Steve Williams.

Table
Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against difference
1 Germany8602191124+6720
2 Belgium8602214147+6720
3 Moldova8503163157+618
4 Ukraine8305117128-1114
5 Netherlands800897226-1298
  • In the event of a tie the following rules apply: champion to be decided by 1. Winner of the games between tied teams 2. Best difference points for and against in all pool matches 3. Best difference between tried in all pool matches 4. Higher number of points 5. Higher number of tries [8]
  • Germany was promoted because they won on aggregate in the two games played between them and Belgium (32 - 13 and 18 - 32 giving an aggregate of 50 - 45).

Games

ENC matches
2006-11-11
12:00
Moldova  26 – 24 Germany 
Try: (4) 3', 21', 30', 68'
Pen: (2) 11', 80'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Güngör 40'+, Franke 63'
Con: Franke 40'+
Pen: Franke (4) 23', 28', 40', 78'
Chişinău
Attendance: 500
Referee: Bernard dal Maso (France)
2006-11-18
15:00
Germany  32 – 13 Belgium 
Try: Güngör 28', Chaule 46', ???
Con: Franke 28'
Pen: Franke (5) 2', 6', 15', 24', 67'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: (1)
Con: (1)
Pen: (2)
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 2,700
Referee: Stefano Mancini (Italy)
2007-04-21
15:00
Ukraine  14 – 22 Germany 
Try: (2) 6', 36'
Con: (2) 6', 36'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Güngör 40'+
Con: Franke 40'+
Pen: Franke (5) 2', 30', 38', 49', 80'
Kiev
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Tomas Tuma (Czech Republic)
2007-04-28
15:00
Germany  21 – 12 Netherlands 
Try: Güngör 5', Steffen Thier
Con: Franke 5'
Pen: Franke (3) 49', 65', 70'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: (2)
Con: (1)
2007-11-10
Belgium  32 – 18 Germany 
Try: Wey, Verschelden, Nana, Niell
Con: A. Williams (3)
Pen: A. Williams (2)
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Franke 56', Tekkal 70'
Con: Eckert 70'
Pen: Franke 8', Eckert 47'
King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Felix Villegas Casado (Spain)
2007-11-24
15:00
Germany  34 – 5 Moldova 
Try: Grzanna (2) 19', 25', Kasten 60', Strauch 76'
Con: Franke (4) 19', 25', 60', 76'
Pen: Franke (2) 4', 45'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Romanov 52'
Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg
Attendance: 2,800
Referee: Jaroslav Bednarik (Czech Republic)
2008-04-19
14:30
Germany  13 – 5 Ukraine 
Try: Grzanna 58'
Con: Franke 58'
Pen: Franke 17'
Drop: Güngör 26'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Orlov 34'
Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion, Hanover
Attendance: 6,735
Referee: Gabriel Seitan (Romania)
2008-04-26
Netherlands  17 – 27 Germany 
Try: Knox 29', Bonhof 40', Lingsma 65'
Con: Lingsma 40'
 (Line up)
(Report)		 Try: Güngör (2) 20', 75'
Con: Franke 20'
Pen: Davies (3) 32', 39', 50', Franke 69'
Drop: Grzanna 79'
Amsterdam
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Tony Raduta (Romania)

Friendlies
2006-09-16
Switzerland   10 – 40 Germany 
(Report)
Allmend Stadium, Bern
2007-02-24
Welsh Districts XV 13 – 24 Germany 
Try: Parry, Palmer
Pen: Warman
 (Line up) Try: Kasten, Danso, Kerr
Con: Franke (3)
Pen: Franke
Pontypridd Stadium, Pontypridd
Attendance: 500
Referee: Dale Hewitt (England)
2007-09-29
Germany  49 – 13 Switzerland  
Try: Walger (3), Strauch (2), Pipa, Pyrasch
Con: Eckert (5), Wiedemann (2)
 (Line up) Try: Betten, Hösel
Pen: Nicholas

Player statistics

Squad

The following players were part of the German team during its 2006-08 campaign:[9]

  • Clubs listed are the club or clubs a player played for while playing for Germany in 2006-08, not current club.

Games

The following players have been selected for Germany from 2006 to 2008 in the country's European Nation Cup Second Division campaign and in friendlies:

Player Caps [10] 2006 2007 2008
Swi 2 Mol Bel W XV Ukr Ned Swi Bel Mol Ukr Ned
Benjamin Krause 26 [11] x 3 1 1 2 2 1 1 1
Tim Coly 23 [11] 2 2 2 2 2 2
Alexander Widiker 27[12] 1 1 1 3 3 1 3 3 3
Manuel Wilhelm 20 19 4 5 5 4 4 4
Jens Schmidt 33 [13] x 5 (c) 5 (c) 7 (c) 8 (c) 7 (c) 5 (c) 4 18 5
Tim Kasten 17 [14] x 6 8 6 6 6 6 6
Gerrit van Look 15 [15] x 7 6 8 6 6 7 8 7 7
Bodo Sieber 15 [15] 4 4 8 5 5 8
Mustafa Güngör 20 [16] x 9 9 14 9 9 9 9 9 9
Lars Eckert 17 [14] x 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Matthieu Franke 9 [17] 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 11
Colin Grzanna 22 x 12 13 12 12 12 12 12 (c) 12 (c) 12 (c) 12 (c)
Kieron Davies 23 [11] 21 21 13 13
Christopher Weselek 25 [15] x 14 14 11 11 11 14 13 14 22 14
Edmoore Takaendesa 2 15 15
Steve Williams 3 [14] 2 16 16
Benjamin Danso 10 x 18 18 4 16 19 4 18 18 19 17
Alexander Pipa 7 8 18
Rolf Wacha 2 [18] 6 19
Sebastien Chaule 14 [19] x 11 11 15 21 21 20 20
Markus Walger 16 x 11 11 11 21 21
Marten Strauch 5 [15] 21 20 20 13 22 22 22
Clemens von Grumbkow 18 13 12 (1) 13 13 14 13 11
Kehoma Brenner 4 [20] 17 17 17 17 17 17
Steffen Thier x 8 7 8 7
Christian Baracat 3 [18] 17 3 16 16
Timur Tekkal x 7 8 19 19
Franck Moutsinga 10 [21] x 20 20 9 21 21 9 20 20
Pierre Faber 18 3 3 2
Sascha Fischer 27 5 5
Klaus Mainzer x 16 16 2 18 16 1
Krystian Trochowski 16 16
Christian Hug x 4 19 18
Alexander Hug 1 [18] 19
Raphael Pyrasch 1 [18] 20
Thorsten Wiedemann 1 [18] 21
Dennis Walger 1 [18] 22
Benjamin Simm 7 22 13 14 14
Marcus Trick 19 x 17 17
Sebastian Werle 19 20 18
Friedrich Michau 22 22
Michael Kerr 18
Christopher Parnham 20
Christian Doering x 22
Hendrik van Look x
Michael Döries x
Alexander Luft x
Rene Engelhardt x
  • Number of caps as of end of ENC campaign, 26 April 2008, not overall.
  • 1 Clemens von Grumbkow was injured prior to the match and Germany only went with 21 players into the game.
  • 2 Only squad known for the Switzerland game, no positions.
  • 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)

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. Deutsche U21-Auswahl soll Alpencup verteidigen (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 27 September 2008, accessed: 27 March 2010
  3. Germany - Netherlands report (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 28 March 2010
  4. Deutschland vor Rückkehr in Division 1 Archived 2008-06-26 at the Wayback Machine (in German) Rugby Journal - Match report, accessed: 25 March 2010
  5. Kader für Lehrgang in Heidelberg nominiert Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (in German) scrum.de, published: 16 February 2008, accessed: 15 March 2010
  6. Mark Kuhlmann nicht mehr DRV-Nationaltrainer (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 9 March 2009, accessed: 25 February 2010
  7. Comité Directeur Archived March 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine (in French) RC Orléans website, accessed: 15 March 2010
  8. FIRA-AER website - 2006/08 - ENC - Division 2
  9. Germany squad (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 28 March 2010
  10. Rugby international news accessed: 24 February 2009
  11. Neues vor dem Länderspiel II: Minister Niebel kommt (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 10 December 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010
  12. Widiker: “Für mich zählt nur der Aufstieg” (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 19 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010
  13. Jens Schmidt made his 35th appearance for the German team against Spain on 15 November 2008 Archived 20 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. Güngör neuer Kapitän der National-XV (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  17. Matthieu Franke (in German) DRV website, accessed: 30 April 2012
  18. 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.
  19. Sebastien Chaule beendet Rugby-Karriere (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 30 October 2009, accessed: 27 February 2010
  20. Kehoma Brenner made his debut for Germany against Moldova on 11 November 2006.
  21. Franck Moutsinga Archived 2009-04-02 at the Wayback Machine (in German) BRC website, accessed: 2 March 2010
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