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.2010-12 Schema ENC FIRA-AER website, published: 5 February 2010, accessed: 6 May 2010 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. 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.IRB gibt Okay für Spiel gegen Hongkong Rugby-Journal, published: 8 September 2010, accessed: 17 September 2010
With the final game against Moldova, Germany's captain Alexander Widiker played his 51st game for his country, thereby equaling Horst Kemmling's record.Rekord für Snakko DRV website, accessed: 7 April 2012
Games 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.DRV XV: Unnötige Auftaktniederlage gegen Polen Rugby-Journal, published: 21 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010
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.DRV XV: Verdienter Sieg in Amsterdam Rugby-Journal, published: 28 November 2010, accessed: 28 November 2010 It also won the following game, a friendly against Hong Kong, cementing its position as number 30 in the rugby world ranking.Deutschland besiegt Hongkong mit 34:13 Rugby-Journal, published: 11 December 2010, accessed: 12 December 2010 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.Hong Kong aim for big rise in rankings IRB website, published: 10 December 2010, accessed: 12 December 2010
Germany began its 2011 spring campaign with an unofficial friendlyMatch report Germany vs. New Zealand Ambassadors XV DRV website, accessed: 8 March 2011 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.International News DRV website, accessed: 15 February 2011
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.Match report Germany vs. Czech Republic DRV website, accessed: 20 March 2011
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.Match report Belgium vs. Germany DRV website, accessed: 20 March 2011 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.Match report Moldova vs. Germany DRV website, accessed: 2 April 2011
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.DRV XV: Wöchentliche Trainings für die Nationalmannschaft totalrugby.de, published: 10 August 2011, accessed: 21 August 2011 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.Testspiel 15er DRV website, published: November 2011, accessed: 9 November 2011
The German team nominated eight new, uncapped players for the encounter against the Netherlands on 12 November 2011,ENC: Kader nominiert DRV website, published: November 2011, accessed: 9 November 2011 which the team won 23–7, thereby making a major step towards avoiding relegation. Germany versus Netherlands game report DRV website, accessed: 12 November 2011
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.Poland versus Germany game report DRV website, accessed: 28 November 2011
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,Deutsche Rugby-Herren holen knappen Sieg in Tschechien totalrugby.de, published: 10 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012 against Belgium, a half time lead of 22-9 was not enough to win the game.Deutsche XV unterliegt Belgien erneut knapp totalrugby.de, published: 17 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012 In the last game, Germany played its best performance of the campaign while Moldova displayed a weak side.Germany - Moldavia game report totalrugby.de, published: 24 March 2012, accessed: 6 April 2012
Management & coaching 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.Deutschland steigt ab / Finsterer tritt zurück Rugby-Journal, published: 20 March 2010, accessed: 20 March 2010 However, no new German coach was announced until July 2010. On 11 July 2010, Torsten Schippe was introduced as the new German coach,Torsten Schippe wird Trainer des 15er-Nationalteams Rugby-Journal, published: 11 July 2010, accessed: 26 July 2010 with South African Jakobus Potgieter as Schippe's assistant.Kobus Potgieter neuer Co-Trainer der Nationalmannschaft Rugby-Journal, published: 16 July 2010, accessed: 26 July 2010 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 2009Güngör neuer Kapitän der National-XV Rugby-Journal, published: 8 December 2009, accessed: 24 March 2010 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.
Debuts and retirements 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.
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.Verdienter Sieg in Amsterdam Rugby-Journal, published: 27 November 2010, accessed: 29 November 2010
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. In the game against Moldova, Gilles Valette and Felix Bayer made their debut for Germany.
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.Heidelberg - ENC-Heimspiel gegen Niederlande: Nationaltrainer Schippe nominiert acht Neue mrn-news.de, published: 7 November 2011, accessed: 10 November 2011 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.
Mika Tyumenev and Carlos Soteras-Merz made their debut for Germany against Poland in November 2011.
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 The final table: Promoted to Division 1ARelegated for 2012–2014 Place Nation Games Points Tablepoints played won drawn lost for against difference110901303149+15439210613238189+4931310514194211-1726410406229212+1722510406160217-5720610109153299-1466
Games
Friendlies
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
ENC matches
Player statistics
Squad The following players are part of the German team during its 2010-12 campaign:DRV-Kader für Spiel gegen Polen nominiert Rugby-Journal, published: 19 November 2010, accessed: 21 November 2010ENC Division 1B 2010-2012 - Mannschaftskader Deutschland totalrugby.de, accessed: 21 November 2010