The Berliner Rugby Club is a German rugby union club from Berlin, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga.
History The club was formed in 1926.
While very successful in its youth department,BRC website - Club info accessed: 13 January 2009 it has not managed similar achievements on the senior level.
The club has yet to win a national championship, having appeared in the 1989 German rugby union championship final, where it lost 6-20 to TSV Victoria Linden. Two lost Cup finals also stand to its name.
In the 2007-08 Rugby-Bundesliga season, the club finished in fourth place, its best result in the league since adoption of the single-division format in 2001. The 2008-09 season started not as successful with the team sitting in seventh place, just above the relegation zone but good results in the second half of the season saw it finish in fourth place and qualify for the finals. In the semi-finals, SC 1880 Frankfurt proved to strong, defeating BRC 36-15.
With the first team struggling in the Bundesliga because of a number of injuries, the club was forced to withdraw its reserve team from the second division in October 2011, with the players from the side being moved to the first and third team instead.Berliner RC zieht 2. Mannschaft aus der 2. Bundesliga Nord/Ost zurück totalrugby.de, published: 12 October 2011, accessed: 31 October 2011
A league reform in 2012 allowed the club to stay in the league after initially having been relegated as the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams. BRC finished first in their group in the 2012-13 season and qualified for the north/east division of the championship round, where it came second. The club was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the play-offs after a 7–49 loss to TV Pforzheim.
The club finished second in the north-east championship round in 2013–14, beat RG Heidelberg 31-24 first round of the play-offs and was knocked out by Heidelberger RK in the semi-finals. In the 2014–15 season the club finished fourth in the north-east championship group but was knocked out of the first round of the play-offs after a 49–0 oss to RK Heusenstamm.
Club honours German rugby union championship Runners up: 1989 German rugby union cup Runners up: 1983, 1989 German sevens championship Runners up: 2006
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
First team Year Division Position 1997-98 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 1st — Promoted 1998-99 Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (I) 5th Bundesliga qualification round 7th 1999-2000 Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 5th Bundesliga qualification round 9th — Relegated 2000-01 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 1st Bundesliga qualification round 7th - Promoted 2001-02 Rugby-Bundesliga (I) 7th 2002-03 Rugby-Bundesliga 7th 2003-04 Rugby-Bundesliga 5th 2004-05 Rugby-Bundesliga 5th 2005-06 Rugby-Bundesliga 7th 2006-07 Rugby-Bundesliga 5th 2007-08 Rugby-Bundesliga 4th 2008-09 Rugby-Bundesliga 4th — Semi-finals 2009–10 Rugby-Bundesliga 6th 2010–11 Rugby-Bundesliga 6th 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga 9th 2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 1st Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 2nd — Quarter finals 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 1st Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 2nd — Semi finals 2014–15 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – North-East 4th – First round 2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga North-East 4th Until 2001, when the single-division Bundesliga was established, the season was divided in autumn and spring, a Vorrunde and Endrunde, whereby the top teams of the Rugby-Bundesliga would play out the championship while the bottom teams together with the autumn 2nd Bundesliga champion would play for Bundesliga qualification. The remainder of the 2nd Bundesliga teams would play a spring round to determine the relegated clubs. Where two placing's are shown, the first is autumn, the second spring. In 2012 the Bundesliga was expanded from ten to 24 teams and the 2nd Bundesliga from 20 to 24 with the leagues divided into four regional divisions.
Reserve team Year Division Position 2003-04 Rugby-Regionalliga East (North) (III) 6th Placings round 1 1st 2004-05 Rugby-Regionalliga East A 1st North/East championship round 4th 2005-06 Rugby-Regionalliga East A 2nd North/East championship round 6th 2006-07 Rugby-Regionalliga East A 2nd North/East championship round 2nd 2007-08 Rugby-Regionalliga East A 1st 2008-09 Rugby-Regionalliga East A 2nd — Promoted 2009–10 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East (II) 8th 2010–11 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 8th 2011–12 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East 10th — Withdrawn 2012–13 Rugby-Regionalliga East (III) 2nd — Promoted 2013–14 Rugby-Regionalliga East 2nd 2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – East 1st DRV-Pokal – North-East 7th 2015–16 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga East 3rd
Rugby internationals In Germany's 2006–08 European Nations Cup campaign, Colin Grzanna, Krystian Trochowski, Gerrit van Look and Franck Moutsinga were called up for the national team.
In the 2008–10 campaign, Grzanna and van Look and appeared for the BRC and Germany again, while Raphael Hackl was a new addition to the club's list of internationals.
In the 2010–12 campaign, no player from the club was selected to play for Germany.
The club had one player selected for the German under-18 team at the 2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship, Samy Füchsel.U18-EM: Deutschland feiert klaren Auftaktsieg Rugby-Journal - 2009 squad, published: 4 April 2009, accessed: 30 April 2010 Füchsel also played at the 2010 tournament.U18 in Bestbesetzung zur EM nach Italien totalrugby.de, published: 23 March 2010, accessed: 30 April 2010
References
External links Official website Berliner RC team info at totalrugby.de Tables and results of German rugby on rugbyweb.de