The 2009–10 Rugby-Bundesliga was the 39th edition of this competition and the 90th edition of the German rugby union championship. Ten teams played a home-and-away season with a finals round between the top four teams at the end. The bottom two teams are relegated. The season started on 29 August 2009 and finished with the championship final on 29 May 2010, interrupted by a winter break from early December to late March.Rugby Spielpläne - 2009-10 - 1. Bundesliga rugbyweb.de, accessed: 18 March 2010

The competition's defending champion was SC 1880 Frankfurt, who won it in the previous two seasons. In the 2010 final, SC 1880 lost to Heidelberger RK, the previous seasons runners-up, which won its first championship since 1986 and its seventh overall. The final was drawn 22-all after regular time and was decided in extra time, where HRK scored 17 unanswered points to be crowned German champions of the men, already having won the 2010 women's final earlier that year. The 2010 final was contested by the two teams expected to do so at the start of the season, SC 1880 and HRK being the only two teams in Germany considered professional.Société Générale Endspieltag: SC 80 vor Titel-Hattrick Rugby-Journal, published: 28 May 2010, accessed: 30 May 2010 The final was considered to have been of high niveau, with long-term German Bundestrainer Peter Ianusevici declaring it the best German championship final he had ever watched.Heidelberger RK deutscher Meister 2010 Rugby-Journal, published: 29 May 2010, accessed: 30 May 2010

Below the Rugby-Bundesliga sat the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, which is divided into two divisions with ten teams each. With the RC Luxembourg, a team from Luxembourg, a non-German side competed in the league in 2009-10. The inclusion of this side in the 2009 promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga had caused some debate in regard to its legality, as the club had not qualified to do so through the German league system and was not a member of any of the German regional rugby federations. However, RC Luxembourg's application was declared valid in regard to the German Rugby Federation's rules and regulations and the team finished second in the promotion round, earning a place in the 2nd Bundesliga for 2009-10.Karlsruhe und Luxemburg steigen in die 2.Liga Süd auf totalrugby.de, published: 6 July 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010

Overview The 2009-10 modus was somewhat different from the previous season. The competition had been expanded from nine to ten teams. It marks the first time since introduction of the single-division Bundesliga in 2001, that ten teams competed in the league. This change of modus was decided upon on 19 July 2008 at the annual general meeting of the German rugby association, the DRV. It was decided to expand the league to ten teams for 2009-10. It was also then decided to introduce an extended play-off format.DRT beschließt Reform des Spielbetriebs Rugby Journal - Reforms 2008, accessed: 7 January 2009 All up, the number of season games in the Rugby-Bundesliga increases to 94 from 76.

Like in 2008-09, the top four teams qualified for the finals. The two semi-finals winners then contested the championship final.

At the bottom end of the table, nominally the last two teams were relegated while the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga champions are promoted, however, this was subject to the 2nd Bundesliga champions accepting promotion, which was not the case.

The defending champion in 2009-10 was SC 1880 Frankfurt, who beat Heidelberger RK in the 2008-09 final while the ASV Köln Rugby and DSV 78 Hannover were newly promoted to the league, having replaced the DRC Hannover. Suffering from a string of injuries, especially to its forward line, and heavy defeats during the season, ASV Köln Rugby made the decision in mid-April 2010, to withdraw from the Rugby-Bundesliga and not to play its five remaining matches. Köln thereby was automatically relegated from the league.ASV Köln verkündet Rückzug aus der Rugbybundesliga totalrugby.de, published: 16 April 2010, accessed: 17 April 2010

In the 2nd Bundesliga, the winners of the two divisions were nominally promoted to the Bundesliga, unless they were reserve teams, in which case the right for promotion would have gone to the next-best non-reserve team. The bottom two teams in the 2nd Bundesliga faced the prospect of relegation to the Rugby-Regionalliga. In the South/West Division, the Karlsruher SV Rugby withdrew in March 2010, its record being expulsed.TotalRugby Review 2. Bundesliga: 12. Spieltag totalrugby.de, published: 28 March 2010, accessed: 30 March 2010

As a sign of the gap between the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga, TSV Victoria Linden, who only won the 2009-10 North/East division in the last round of the championship, declined promotion, citing the additional cost of travelling and the limited player pool as their reason. The South/West champion, Stuttgarter RC, has also indicated that it would not take up promotion because of the loss of eight first-team players at the end of the season, leaving the Bundesliga with only eight clubs for the next season. It also meant, for the first time ever, that no club from Hanover would compete at the top level of German rugby.Victoria Linden verzichtet auf den Bundesligaaufstieg , totalrugby.de, published: 27 May 2010, accessed: 29 May 2010RC gewinnt Zweitligameisterschaft - verzichtet aber dennoch auf den Aufstieg , totalrugby.de, published: 31 May 2010, accessed: 1 June 2010

DSV 78 protested the decision to reduce the league to eight teams again and thereby relegating the club.Abstieg von Hannover 78 besiegelt - Bundesligasaison 2010/2011 mit nur 8 Mannschaften totalrugby.de, published: 8 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010 For the 2nd Bundesliga, this also meant, only one team each would be promoted to the two regional divisions, in the North/East, this was SC Siemensstadt, the club being directly promoted, while, in the South/West, TV Pforzheim won the promotion tournament of the five southern Regionalliga champions in Nuremberg on 12 June 2010.TV Pforzheim gewinnt das Aufstiegsturnier zur 2. Bundesliga Süd totalrugby.de, published: 13 June 2010. accessed: 14 June 2010

Bundesliga table ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDifferencePoints1 SC 1880 Frankfurt 16 14 0 2 716 143 573 662 RG Heidelberg 16 11 2 3 512 307 205 573 Heidelberger RK 16 10 2 4 575 221 354 544 TSV Handschuhsheim 16 9 2 5 383 292 91 495 SC Neuenheim 16 9 1 6 347 320 27 476 Berliner Rugby Club 16 5 0 11 364 414 -50 297 RK 03 Berlin 16 5 1 10 259 589 -330 278 RK Heusenstamm 16 3 0 13 233 719 -486 149 DSV 78 Hannover 16 2 0 14 156 540 -384 1010 ASV Köln Rugby 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Relegated: ASV Köln Rugby Promoted: None The two regional 2nd Bundesliga champions declined promotion. ASV Köln Rugby withdrew in April 2010, its record being expulsed.

Bundesliga results Club SCF RGH HRK TSV SCN BRC RKB RKH DSV ASV SC 1880 Frankfurt — 40-6 33-16 29-6 20-23 23-14 59-8 84-0 68-5 50-0 RG Heidelberg 23-9 — 31-24 16-20 22-28 48-12 68-3 50-18 51-9 0-0 Heidelberger RK 3-5 34-34 — 16-12 20-20 27-13 61-5 43-3 74-10 65-0 TSV Handschuhsheim 15-22 13-13 7-37 — 23-20 25-11 10-10 38-24 33-8 59-0 SC Neuenheim 0-28 23-31 6-29 27-20 — 26-17 24-7 43-10 25-16 81-0 Berliner RC 5-94 12-18 25-17 10-14 18-20 — 51-19 77-21 39-5 0-0 RK 03 Berlin 12-57 26-39 7-73 19-61 17-12 23-18 — 36-19 34-3 51-10 RK Heusenstamm 7-102 21-34 10-63 12-54 14-29 19-17 31-28 — 24-18 25-15 DSV 78 Hannover 0-43 15-28 0-38 18-32 28-21 15-25 3-5 3-0 — 0-0 ASV Köln Rugby 0-0 0-77 0-0 8-79 5-53 3-24 0-97 3-49 0-22 — ASV Köln Rugby played 13 of its 18 scheduled matches before withdrawing, results were later expulsed from the record.

Key Home win Draw Away win Game not played

Player statistics

Try scorers The leading try scores in the Rugby-Bundesliga 2009–10 season were (10 tries or more): PlayerClubTries Alexander Pipa TSV Handschuhsheim 22 Manasah Sita SC Neuenheim 19 Pieter Johannes Jordaan Heidelberger RK 19 Caine Elisara Heidelberger RK 19 Bastian Himmer RG Heidelberg 15 Mark Sztyndera SC 1880 Frankfurt 13 Colin Grzanna Berliner RC 13 Keiran Manawatu SC 1880 Frankfurt 13 Christian Lill RK 03 Berlin 11 Marten Strauch SC Neuenheim 11 Jason Campell SC 1880 Frankfurt 10 Tom Schilling RK 03 Berlin 10 Sean Armstrong Heidelberger RK 10

Point scorers The leading point scores in the Rugby-Bundesliga 2009–10 season were (100 points or more): PlayerClubPoints Fabian Heimpel RG Heidelberg 225 Mark Sztyndera SC 1880 Frankfurt 133 Thorsten Wiedemann Heidelberger RK 128 Keiran Manawatu SC 1880 Frankfurt 128 Pascal Schuster RK Heusenstamm 115 Matthias Pipa TSV Handschuhsheim 113 Colin Grzanna Berliner RC 111 Alexander Pipa TSV Handschuhsheim 110

Per club The top try and point scorers per club were: ClubPlayerTriesPlayerPoints Berliner RC1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader Berliner RC totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Colin Grzanna 13 Colin Grzanna 111 RK 03 Berlin1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader RK 03 Berlin totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Christian Lill 11 Marc Lowdon 96 SC 1880 Frankfurt1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader SC 1880 Frankfurt totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Mark Sztyndera 13 Mark Sztyndera 133 TSV Handschuhsheim1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader TSV Handschuhsheim totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Alexander Pipa 22 Matthias Pipa 113 DSV 78 Hannover1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader DSV 78 Hannover totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Benjamin Simm 4 Marvin Dieckmann 67 RG Heidelberg1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader RG Heidelberg totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Bastian Himmer 15 Fabian Heimpel 225 Heidelberger RK1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader Heidelberger RK totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Pieter Johannes Jordaan Caine Elisara 19 Thorsten Wiedemann 128 RK Heusenstamm1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader RK Heusenstamm totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Torsten Krapscha 5 Pascal Schuster 115 ASV Köln Rugby1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader ASV Köln totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Seven players 1 Tobias Sylvester 11 SC Neuenheim1. Bundesliga 2009/2010 - Mannschaftskader SC Neuenheim totalrugby.de, accessed: 18 May 2010 Manasah Sita 19 Lars Eckert 56

Semi-finals and final

Semi-finals

Final

SC 1880 FRANKFURT: FB 15 Anton Ewald RW 14 Keiran ManawatuOC 13 Mark Sztyndera IC 12 Graham SmithLW 11 Sam Leung-WaiFH 10 Jason CampellSH 9 Dennis FeidelbergN8 8 Ross Warrick OF 7 Andrew PorterBF 6 Alexander Hauck RL 5 Daniel Preussner LL 4 Rolf Wacha TP 3 Sam BiddlesHK 2 Michael HowellsLP 1 Syd DouglasSubstitutes:RL Chad Slaby FB Bevan Gray N8 Andrew Shaw FB Erik Podzuweit OC Alexander Berwing BF Rico Schomacker Coach: Aaron SatchwellHEIDELBERGER RK: FB 15 James Keinhorst RW 14 Christopher NeureutherOC 13 Steffen Liebig IC 12 Pieter Johannes JordaanLW 11 Anjo Buckman FH 10 Carlin HamstraSH 9 Sean ArmstrongN8 8 Manuel Ballerin OF 7 Carlo Schmidt BF 6 Caine ElisaraRL 5 Julio David RodriguezLL 4 Dan ArmitageTP 3 Patrick Schliwa HK 2 Alexander BiskupekLP 1 Arthur ZeilerSubstitutes:OF Sydney Brenner N8 Ben DubykLW Christopher Liebig TP Alexander Wiedemann TP Benedikt Rehm OC Andreas Götz FB Erkut Leventdurmus Coach: Murray Archibald

2nd Bundesliga tables

South/West ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDifferencePoints1 Stuttgarter RC 16 13 0 3 610 194 416 632 München RFC 16 12 1 3 424 258 166 583 RC Luxembourg 16 12 0 4 309 245 64 534 RG Heidelberg II 16 8 0 8 311 294 17 415 SC 1880 Frankfurt II 16 6 0 10 374 328 46 346 StuSta München 16 7 1 8 298 391 -93 347 TSV Handschuhsheim II 16 5 0 11 243 328 -85 258 Heidelberger RK II 16 5 0 11 202 451 -249 179 RC Mainz 16 3 0 13 230 512 -282 1710 Karlsruher SV Rugby 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Promoted to Bundesliga: None Relegated from Bundesliga: ASV Köln Rugby Relegated from 2nd Bundesliga: Karlsruher SV Rugby, RC Mainz Promoted to 2nd Bundesliga: TV Pforzheim