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.
 | |||
| Nickname | Wolfpack | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Deutscher Rugby-Verband | ||
| Head coach | Pablo Feijoo | ||
| Captain | Carlos Soteras Merz | ||
| |||
| Rugby World Cup Sevens | |||
| Appearances | 1 (First in 2022) | ||
| Best result | 18th 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
edit
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
editWorld Cup Sevens record
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit| 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
edit| Sevens Challenger Series | |
|---|---|
| Year | Position |
  2020
|
3rd |
| 2021 | Not held |
| 2022 |
4th |
| 2023 |
3rd |
 2024
|
4th |
World Games
edit| 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
edit| 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
editCurrent squad
editSquad 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
edit- ^ 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
- ^ Hong Kong Sevens finals: 1990's Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine Hong Kong Sevens official website. Retrieved 9 February 2009
- ^ "Sevens captains ready for the challenge in Dubai". www.world.rugby. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ a b "China and Kenya celebrate Challenger 2024 success in Dubai". www.world.rugby. 14 January 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- ^ "China women and Uruguay men win World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger 2024". www.world.rugby. 19 May 2024. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "2024 World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series squad list" (PDF). World Rugby. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
External links
edit- (in German) Deutscher Rugby-Verband – Official Site
- German Sevens team at totalrugby.de
- Hannover sevens website (in English, French, and German)