Germany at the 2010–2012 European Nations Cup

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Germany
2010-2012 season
Head coachTorsten Schippe
ChairmanClaus-Peter Bach (-July 2011)
Ralph Götz (July 2011-)
ENC First Division-B4th
Top try scorerLeague: Kasten (6)
All: Kasten (6)
Top points scorerLeague: Heimpel (46)
All: Heimpel (65)

Germany at the 2010–2012 European Nations Cup saw a return of the German national rugby union team to the ENC Second Division, having been relegated without a win from the First Division in 2008–2010. The renaming of division within the ENC however meant, that the former Second Division is now named First Division B. The team struggled in the first half of the competition, only winning one of their five games but improved in the second half, when it won three games, to finish fourth overall and well clear of relegation.

Germany faced Belgium, Czech Republic, Moldova, Poland and the Netherlands in a competition that had been enlarged from five to six teams.[1] Germany kicked off its campaign on 20 November 2010, when they played and lost to Poland in Frankfurt am Main, followed by a game against the Netherlands a week later in Amsterdam. The next matches were then played in March and April 2011, when Germany met the remaining three teams.[2] Germany's first game of the autumn campaign in 2011 was against the Netherlands on 12 November 2011, followed by an away game in Poland a week later. The final three games of the competition for Germany were then played in March 2012.

Germany also played, like in the previous year, a friendly against Hong Kong, on 11 December 2010 at Heidelberg.[3]

With the final game against Moldova, Germany's captain Alexander Widiker played his 51st game for his country, thereby equaling Horst Kemmling's record.[4]

Games[edit]

Germany suffered a defeat in its opening game of the 2010–2012 European Nations Cup First Division, losing to Poland 17-22 after leading 17-9 at half time. The defeat was seen as unnecessary by the president of the German Rugby Federation, Claus-Peter Bach, but he also considered Poland's victory as deserved. Germany went into the match with a new coach and assistant, a new captain, Alexander Widiker and five uncapped players.[5]

Germany finally achieved its first win in the ENC since 26 April 2008, when it beat the Netherlands in Amsterdam on 27 November 2010. Its last victory in the European competition had come at the same place against the same opposition, just over 31 months earlier.[6] It also won the following game, a friendly against Hong Kong, cementing its position as number 30 in the rugby world ranking.[7] A loss in this game could have meant for Germany a drop as far as to position 37 in the ranking, instead, the country managed to cut down its deficit to 29th placed Ukraine.[8]

Germany began its 2011 spring campaign with an unofficial friendly[9] against a New Zealand Ambassadors XV, made up almost exclusively of players from New Zealand which are active in Germany and the Netherlands. The New Zealand embassy in Germany donated a cup for this match, the Ambassadors Cup.[10]

The first competitive game of 2011, against the Czech Republic in Heidelberg, brought a disappointing 23-29 defeat for the German team. Germany lost the game in the first half, after which the Czech Republic lead 26-13.[11]

The German team continued its 2011 campaign with a third defeat in the third game, against Belgium in Brussels. Belgium lead 28-13 after 59 minutes but Germany clawed back to earn a bonus point in its 25-28 defeat.[12] The fifth game of Germany's ENC campaign also ended in defeat, this time in Moldova, ending all German hopes for promotion and instead condemning the team to struggle against relegation.[13]

In an attempt to improve the performance of the team it was decided to have weekly training sessions for the members of the national team, held at different locations.[14] Germany started with an improved performance in its 2011 autumn campaign, defeating the New Zealand Ambassadors XV 19–17 despite fielding a number of uncapped players, a side it had lost to 19–43 eight month earlier.[15]

The German team nominated eight new, uncapped players for the encounter against the Netherlands on 12 November 2011,[16] which the team won 23–7, thereby making a major step towards avoiding relegation.[17]

In its second game of the 2011 autumn campaign, away against Poland, Germany took an 8–0 lead after 14 minutes but did not score another point after that. Poland scored 34 points after that of which 26 were scored by the Polish No 15, David Chartier.[18]

Germany played three games in three weeks in March 2012 and showed signs of improvement. It won 20-17 away at the Czech Republic, narrowly lost by a point at home to eventual champions Belgium and won its final match, against Moldova, 40-7. Germany played strong first halves in their first two games but was lucky to hang on to its lead in the Czech Republic while,[19] against Belgium, a half time lead of 22-9 was not enough to win the game.[20] In the last game, Germany played its best performance of the campaign while Moldova displayed a weak side.[21]

Management & coaching[edit]

After the resignation of Rudolf Finsterer after the final game of the 2008-10 campaign, Bruno Stolorz, under the supervision of Peter Ianusevici, Germany's Director of Rugby, remained in charge of the German team. A final decision on the position was scheduled to be made in a meeting of board of the German Rugby Federation in May 2010 in Hanover.[22] However, no new German coach was announced until July 2010. On 11 July 2010, Torsten Schippe was introduced as the new German coach,[2] with South African Jakobus Potgieter as Schippe's assistant.[23] Schippe had been coach of Germany once before, leading the team from 2000 to 2001.

Mustafa Güngör, who served as the captain of the German team since December 2009[24] was replaced by Alexander Widiker before the first match of the campaign. Pieter Jordaan was also confirmed as the new vice-captain of the German team.[5]

Debuts and retirements[edit]

Four players made their debut in Germany's first game of the campaign, against Poland, those being Arthur Zeiler, Sven Wetzel, Tim Menzel and James Keinhorst. Two more uncapped players, vice-captain Pieter Jordaan, who missed the game due to injury but hoped to play in the following game against the Netherlands and Dustin Eaton, who was part of the wider squad but not selected for the game, were originally also part of the squad.[5]

With Jordaan in the starting line-up against the Netherlands as well as Sam Henderson, Germany fielded two more debutants in its second ENC game. Jordaan however was injured just before kick-off, during the warm-up, and had to be substituted. Nico Kanning was part of the squad as a substitute, being the third uncapped player in the line-up, and was substituted in during the game, receiving his first cap.[25]

In the friendly against Hong Kong, Bastian Himmer made his debut and scored his first international try, while another debutant, Jannis Läpple, came on as a substitute.

Daniel Armitage made his debut for Germany against the Czech Republic in the first competitive game of 2011.

After a number of failed attempts, Pieter Jordaan finally made his debut for Germany against Belgium, where he scored two tries but was unable to prevent another defeat.[12] In the game against Moldova, Gilles Valette and Felix Bayer made their debut for Germany.[13]

For its first game of the return round of the ENC in November 2011 against the Netherlands, Germany nominated eight uncapped players, those being Rob May, Sean Armstrong, Callum Sauer, Olivier Galli, Raynor Parkinson, Guillaume Kasdorf, Mika Tyumenev und Stéphane Kohler.[26] Of those, Kohler, Sauer, May, Armstrong, Parkinson and Galli were in the starting line-up while Kasdorf and Tyumenev were not fielded in the game.[17]

Mika Tyumenev and Carlos Soteras-Merz made their debut for Germany against Poland in November 2011.[18]

In the first game in March 2012, Benjamin Strappazon and Kieran Manawatu made their debut for Germany, while Chris Hilsenbeck made his in the second game and was the last player to make his debut in this campaign.

Table[edit]

The final table:

Promoted to Division 1A
Relegated for 2012–2014
Place Nation Games Points Table
points
played won drawn lost for against difference
1  Belgium 10 9 0 1 303 149 +154 39
2  Poland 10 6 1 3 238 189 +49 31
3  Moldova 10 5 1 4 194 211 -17 26
4  Germany 10 4 0 6 229 212 +17 22
5  Czech Republic 10 4 0 6 160 217 -57 20
6  Netherlands 10 1 0 9 153 299 -146 6

Games[edit]

Friendlies[edit]

11 December 2010 Germany  34–13  Hong Kong Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg  
14:30 Try: Himmer 20', Simm 55', Widiker 61'
Con: Heimpel (2) 55', 61'
Pen: Heimpel (5) 22', 34', 35', 37', 40'
(Report) Try: Jones 77'
Con: McColl 77'
Pen: Price 45', 46'
Attendance: 800
Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania)


5 March 2011 Germany  19–43 New Zealand New Zealand Ambassadors XV Sportanlage in der Feldgerichtstrasse, Frankfurt am Main  
14:00 Try: Kasten 54', Zeiler 66', Widiker 75'
Con: Fabian Heimpel (2) 66', 75'
(Report) Try: Hughson 2', Leung-Wai 7', Gibson 13', T. Manawatu 50', Walker (2) 58', 80', Westerlund 71'
Con: K. Manawatu 2', T. Manawatu (3) 7', 58', 71'
Referee: Dana Teagarden (Germany)


5 November 2011 Germany  19–17 New Zealand New Zealand Ambassadors XV Sportanlage in der Feldgerichtstrasse, Frankfurt am Main  
13:00 Try: Pyrasch 14', Joordan 19'
Pen: Parkinson (2) 9', 37'
Drop: Armstrong 47'
(Report) Try: Walker 40', Elisara 59', Muggeridge 73'
Con: Elisara 59'
Attendance: 700

The two games against the New Zealand Ambassadors XV are not official international tests, no caps were awarded and matches were not counted in statistics[9]

ENC matches[edit]

20 November 2010 Germany  17–22  Poland Sportanlage in der Feldgerichtstrasse, Frankfurt am Main  
14:30 Try: Güngör 7', Hauck 14'
Con: Heimpel (2) 7', 14'
Pen: Heimpel 43'
(Report) Try: Bobryk 47'
Con: Chartier 47'
Pen: Chartier (5) 11', 33', 37', 53', 55'
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Pedro Murinello (Portugal)


27 November 2010 Netherlands  10–29  Germany Amsterdam  
14:30 Try: Blom 11', Cornelisse 18' (Report) Try: Widiker 7', Liebig 37', Keinhorst 80'
Con: Heimpel 37'
Pen: Heimpel (4) 16', 36', 45', 76'
Referee: Stephano Marrama (Italy)


12 March 2011 Germany  23–29  Czech Republic Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg  
14:30 Try: G. Franke 16', Schmidt 55'
Con: Heimpel (2) 16', 55'
Pen: Heimpel (3) 9', 30', 67'
(Report) Try: Kutil (2) 12', 40'
Con: Vokrouhlík (2) 12', 40'
Pen: Vokrouhlík (5) 6', 18', 33', 38', 53'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Tony Raduta (Romania)


19 March 2011 Belgium  28–25  Germany Brussels  
15:00 Try: Berger (2) 26', 36', Williams 59'
Con: Williams (2) 36', 59'
Pen: Williams (3) 5', 7', 68'
(Report) Try: Jordaan (2) 17', 77', Strauch 74'
Con: Heimpel 17', Güngör 77'
Pen: Heimpel (2) 10', 40'
Referee: Félix Villegas (Spain)


2 April 2011 Moldova  28–15  Germany Dynamo Stadium, Chişinău  
15:00 Try: Prepelita (2) 10', 56', Arhip 74'
Con: Gagauz (2) 10', 74'
Pen: Gagauz (3) 19', 35', 53'
(Report) Try: Kasten 39', Liebig 47'
Con: Güngör 47'
Pen: G. Franke 37'
Attendance: 3,000
Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania)


12 November 2011 Germany  23–7  Netherlands Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion, Hanover  
14:00 Try: Jordaan 19', Franke 34', Hauck 51'
Con: Parkinson 19'
Pen: Parkinson 80'
Drop: Parkinson 17'
(Report) Try: Barendregt 62'
Con: Koenen 62'
Attendance: 3,100
Referee: Pedro Murinello (Portugal)


19 November 2011 Poland  34–8  Germany Gdańsk  
19:30 Try: Chartier (2) 23', 78', Hotowski 29', Wojciech Łukasiewicz 46'
Con: Chartier (4) 23', 29', 46', 78'
Pen: Chartier (2) 15', 28'
(Report) Try: Himmer 14'
Pen: Parkinson 6'
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Igotz Gallastegui (Spain)


10 March 2012 Czech Republic  17–20  Germany RC Tatra Smichov, Prague  
13:00 Try: Cerny 50', Jirman 57'
Con: Cizek (2) 50', 58'
Drop: Cizek 67'
(Report) Try: Kasten (2) 26', 44', Manawatu 78'
Con: Heimpel 27'
Pen: Heimpel 12'
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Robrt Diaconescu (Romania)


17 March 2012 Germany  29–30  Belgium Martinsee, Heusenstamm  
15:00 Try: Armstrong 31', Strauch 33', Manawatu 39', Kasten 80'
Con: Manawatu (3) 32', 40', 80'
Pen: Manawatu 20'
(Report) Try: Penalty try (2) 47, 78', Pierre Hendrickx 63'
Con: Williams (3) 48', 64', 78'
Pen: Williams (3) 5', 16', 396'
Attendance: 1,500
Referee: Stefano Roscini (Italy)


24 March 2012 Germany  40–7  Moldova Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark, Heidelberg  
14:30 Try: Kasten (2) 26', 512', May 38', Eckert 56', Manawatu 67', Strauch 73'
Con: Hilsenbeck (2) 57', 68'
Pen: Manawatu (2) 4', 11'
(Report) Try: Arhip 31'
Con: Gagauz 32'
Attendance: 1,000
Referee: Vlad Iordăchescu (Romania)

Player statistics[edit]

Squad[edit]

The following players are part of the German team during its 2010-12 campaign:[27][28]

  • Clubs listed are the club or clubs a player played for while playing for Germany in 2010-12, not current club.

Games[edit]

The following players have been selected for Germany from 2010 to 2012 in the country's European Nation Cup campaign and in friendlies:

Player Caps 2010 2011 2012
Pol Ned HK Cze Bel Mol Ned Pol Cze Bel Mol
Benjamin Krause 46 17 upward-facing green arrow 1 1 downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 16 1 downward-facing red arrow
Alexander Widiker 50 2 (c) downward-facing red arrow 2 (c) 2 (c) yellow card 2 (c) 2 (c) 1 (c) 2 (c) 2 (c) downward-facing red arrow 2 (c) yellow card 2 (c) 2 (c)
Stéphane Kohler 3 3 yellow card downward-facing red arrow 3 3 downward-facing red arrow
Callum Sauer 5 4 5 4 4 downward-facing red arrow 4
Daniel Armitage 7 4 4 4 downward-facing red arrow 5 downward-facing red arrow 5 5 5 downward-facing red arrow
Tim Kasten 33 8 8 8 8 6 8 6 downward-facing red arrow 6 6 6
Kehoma Brenner 21 6 yellow card downward-facing red arrow 6 downward-facing red arrow 6 7 downward-facing red arrow 6 yellow card 18 upward-facing green arrow 6 downward-facing red arrow 19 19 7 downward-facing red arrow
Rob May 5 8 yellow card 8 downward-facing red arrow 8 8 8
Sean Armstrong 5 9 9 9 9 9 downward-facing red arrow
Christoper Hilsenbeck 2 10 10 downward-facing red arrow
Marten Strauch 15 14 12 11 11 22 upward-facing green arrow 11 downward-facing red arrow 11
Lars Eckert 25 12 12 12
Mark Sztyndera 7 21 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 13 downward-facing red arrow
Mustafa Güngör 42 9 downward-facing red arrow 22 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 15 11 15 15 14 yellow card 14 14
Kieran Manawatu 3 15 15 15
Arthur Zeiler 9 1 downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 3 downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow 1 17 17 upward-facing green arrow downward-facing red arrow 16 upward-facing green arrow
Patrick Schliwa 6 16 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 3 downward-facing red arrow 22 16 17 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Danso 17 17 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow 18 18 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow
Anjo Buckman 7 13 12 downward-facing red arrow 21 12 downward-facing red arrow 12 downward-facing red arrow 20 19 upward-facing green arrow
Matthieu Franke 16 14 yellow card 14 11 yellow card 21 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow
Fabian Heimpel 10 10 10 10 10 10 downward-facing red arrow 20 upward-facing green arrow 10 21 21 upward-facing green arrow
Tim Menzel 7 21 upward-facing green arrow 9 9 downward-facing red arrow 9 9 9 21 22 22 22 22 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Strappazon 2 1 yellow card 1 yellow card
Damien Tussac 7 3 3 3
Alexander Hauck 14 7 downward-facing red arrow 5 7 5 7 7 7 7 downward-facing red arrow 7 downward-facing red arrow upward-facing green arrow yellow card
Clemens von Grumbkow 31 13 13
Bastian Himmer 5 14 22 upward-facing green arrow 14 14 11 downward-facing red arrow
Gilles Pagnon 8 12 14 downward-facing red arrow 13 13 13 13
Tim Coly 36 16 upward-facing green arrow
Robert Mohr 8 4
Raynor Parkinson 2 10 10
Raphael Pyrasch 11 20 20 upward-facing green arrow 21 19 upward-facing green arrow 11 downward-facing red arrow
Olivier Galli 2 13 13
Mika Tyumenev 1 20 17 upward-facing green arrow
Manuel Wilhelm 33 19 upward-facing green arrow
Carlos Soteras-Merz 1 21 upward-facing green arrow
Pieter Jordaan 3 12 10 12 downward-facing red arrow
Gilles Valette 1 2
Felix Bayer 1 3 downward-facing red arrow
Alexander Hug 13 6 19 upward-facing green arrow 4 downward-facing red arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow 5 downward-facing red arrow
Steffen Liebig 4 22 22 upward-facing green arrow 15 downward-facing red arrow 22 20 14 downward-facing red arrow
Guillaume Franke 3 15 downward-facing red arrow 21 15
Sven Wetzel 4 18 upward-facing green arrow 17 17 upward-facing green arrow 17 16 upward-facing green arrow 17
Jannis Läpple 2 19 upward-facing green arrow 19 18 18 upward-facing green arrow
Lukas Hinds-Johnson 6 19 upward-facing green arrow 18 upward-facing green arrow 19 upward-facing green arrow
Benjamin Simm 21 11 11 13 12 11
Nico Kanning 2 18 upward-facing green arrow downward-facing red arrow 17 upward-facing green arrow downward-facing red arrow
Jens Schmidt 41 4 yellow card 4 yellow card 5 downward-facing red arrow
Sam Henderson 2 7 7
Michael Poppmeier 5 5
James Keinhorst 2 15 15
Kieron Davies 34 20
  • 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.
  • Germany had only 21 players available for the game against the Netherlands on 27 November 2010, because Pieter Jordaan injured himself during the warm-up.[25]

Scorers[edit]

ENC[edit]

Friendlies[edit]

Matches against the New Zealand Ambassadors XV not included

References[edit]

  1. ^ 2010-12 Schema ENC FIRA-AER website, published: 5 February 2010, accessed: 6 May 2010
  2. ^ a b Torsten Schippe wird Trainer des 15er-Nationalteams[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 11 July 2010, accessed: 26 July 2010
  3. ^ IRB gibt Okay für Spiel gegen Hongkong (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 September 2010, accessed: 17 September 2010
  4. ^ Rekord für Snakko (in German) DRV website, accessed: 7 April 2012
  5. ^ a b c DRV XV: Unnötige Auftaktniederlage gegen Polen[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 21 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010
  6. ^ DRV XV: Verdienter Sieg in Amsterdam[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 28 November 2010, accessed: 28 November 2010
  7. ^ Deutschland besiegt Hongkong mit 34:13[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 11 December 2010, accessed: 12 December 2010
  8. ^ Hong Kong aim for big rise in rankings Archived 2010-12-14 at the Wayback Machine IRB website, published: 10 December 2010, accessed: 12 December 2010
  9. ^ a b Match report Germany vs. New Zealand Ambassadors XV (in German) DRV website, accessed: 8 March 2011
  10. ^ International News (in German) DRV website, accessed: 15 February 2011
  11. ^ Match report Germany vs. Czech Republic (in German) DRV website, accessed: 20 March 2011
  12. ^ a b Match report Belgium vs. Germany (in German) DRV website, accessed: 20 March 2011
  13. ^ a b Match report Moldova vs. Germany (in German) DRV website, accessed: 2 April 2011
  14. ^ DRV XV: Wöchentliche Trainings für die Nationalmannschaft (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 10 August 2011, accessed: 21 August 2011
  15. ^ Testspiel 15er (in German) DRV website, published: November 2011, accessed: 9 November 2011
  16. ^ ENC: Kader nominiert (in German) DRV website, published: November 2011, accessed: 9 November 2011
  17. ^ a b Germany versus Netherlands game report (in German) DRV website, accessed: 12 November 2011
  18. ^ a b Poland versus Germany game report (in German) DRV website, accessed: 28 November 2011
  19. ^ Deutsche Rugby-Herren holen knappen Sieg in Tschechien (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 10 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012
  20. ^ Deutsche XV unterliegt Belgien erneut knapp (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 17 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012
  21. ^ Germany - Moldavia game report (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 24 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012
  22. ^ Deutschland steigt ab / Finsterer tritt zurück[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 20 March 2010, accessed: 20 March 2010
  23. ^ Kobus Potgieter neuer Co-Trainer der Nationalmannschaft[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 16 July 2010, accessed: 26 July 2010
  24. ^ Güngör neuer Kapitän der National-XV[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 8 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010
  25. ^ a b Verdienter Sieg in Amsterdam[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 27 November 2010, accessed: 29 November 2010
  26. ^ Heidelberg - ENC-Heimspiel gegen Niederlande: Nationaltrainer Schippe nominiert acht Neue (in German) mrn-news.de, published: 7 November 2011, accessed: 10 November 2011
  27. ^ DRV-Kader für Spiel gegen Polen nominiert[permanent dead link] (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 19 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010
  28. ^ ENC Division 1B 2010-2012 - Mannschaftskader Deutschland (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 21 November 2010

External links[edit]