The RC Mainz is a German rugby union club from Mainz, currently playing in the Rugby-Bundesliga.
History Rugby in Mainz dates back to 1997, when a rugby department was formed in the 1. FC Vorwärts Orient Mainz. Two years later, in 1999, this rugby department formed the current RC Mainz.Rugby in Mainz RCM website, accessed: 8 April 2010
The club competed at the third tier of German club rugby at the time, the Rugby-Regionalliga. Oddly, it took part in two of the Regionalligas local divisions, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. The city of Mainz is located in Rhineland-Palatinate, but just across the river from Hesse.
In the 2001-02 season, the club celebrated its first success, promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga. In this league, it was able to survive for only one season, being promptly relegated back to the third division again.
The team achieved promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga once more when it won the Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate, as well as the Regionalliga Hesse. The club was saved from relegation after its first season there when the league was enlarged and has since improved in its performance.
The club suffered relegation in 2010 but bounced straight back, finishing runners-up in the new 3rd Liga South/West and returning to the 2nd Bundesliga.
A league reform in 2012 allowed the club promotion to the Bundesliga after the league was expanded from ten to 24 teams. RC finished third in their group in the 2012-13 season and qualified for the south/west division of the championship round, where it came eighth. The club was knocked out in the first round of the play-offs after losing 131–3 to DSV 78 Hannover.
The club qualified for the play-offs to the DRV-Pokal in 2013–14, the second-tier competition in German rugby, where it was knocked out by SG Siemensstadt/Grizzlies in the first round. For the 2014–15 season the club entered the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga but was only able to qualify for the Liga-Pokal round where it came seventh and missed out on the play-offs. Mainz dropped back to the third tier for the following season.
Club honours Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate Champions: 2002, 2004, 2007 Rugby-Regionalliga Hessen Champions: 2007
Recent seasons Recent seasons of the club:RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012 Year Division Position 2001-02 Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate (III) 1st — Promoted 2002-03 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 7th — Relegated 2003-04 Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate (III) 1st 2004-05 Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate 2005-06 Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate/Hesse (III) 2nd 2006–07 Rugby-Regionalliga Rhineland-Palatinate Rugby-Regionalliga Hesse 1st — Promoted 2007–08 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West (II) 9th 2008–09 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 7th 2009–10 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 9th — Relegated 2010-11 3rd Liga South/West (III) 2nd — Promoted 2011–12 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West 6th — Promoted 2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West (I) 3rd Rugby-Bundesliga championship round – South-West 8th — Round of sixteen 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 4th DRV-Pokal – South-West 6th — First round 2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West 5th Liga-Pokal – South-West 7th — Relegated 2015–16 3rd Liga South/West—South (III) 5th 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.
References
External links Official website RC Mainz club info at totalrugby.de