The 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga was the 41st edition of this competition and the 92nd edition of the German rugby union championship. In the Rugby-Bundesliga, the first division, ten teams played a home-and-away season with semi-finals and a final between the top four teams at the end. The season started on 27 August 2010 and finished with the championship final on 5 May 2012, interrupted by a winter break from mid-December to late February. The league's top try scorer was Caine Elisara for the second year running while Luke James Muggeridge took out the honours of best points scorer for the first time. Both are from New Zealand and played for Heidelberger RK.

The league was won by Heidelberger RK who defeated TV Pforzheim 20-16 to earn its third consecutive title. TV Pforzheim played in its first-ever German championship final, having defeated SC 1880 Frankfurt 46–25 in the semi-finals. Frankfurt had played in the previous five finals and won the championship in 2008 and 2009. The second semi-final was played between HRK and SC Neuenheim with the former winning 71–21.

In the second tier, the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, FC St. Pauli Rugby and the reserve team of SC 1880 Frankfurt took out the division titles, with SC 1880 Frankfurt II taking out the overall title with a 32–22 finals victory.

Both divisions of the 2nd Bundesliga played with only nine instead of ten clubs. The South/West division lost RG Heidelberg II just before the start of the season when the club decided to withdraw its reserve team to the third divisionRG Heidelberg II startet in der 3. Liga Süd-West totlarugby.de, published: 1 September 2011, accessed: 3 September 2011 while the reserve team of Berliner Rugby Club was withdrawn during the season.Berliner RC zieht 2. Mannschaft aus der 2. Bundesliga Nord/Ost zurück totalrugby.de, published: 12 October 2011, accessed: 31 October 2011 RU Hohen Neuendorf was expulsed from the league during the season for falling to field in two games without adequate excuse. TSV Handschuhsheim II was punished the same way for the same reason after the season had ended, with both of the teams being relegated.Jetzt ist es endgültig, die RU Hohen Neuendorf fliegt aus der 2. Bundesliga totlarugby.de, published: 13 July 2012, accessed: 22 August 20122. BL: Zwangsabstieg des TSV Handschuhsheim II bleibt bestehen totlarugby.de, published: 2 August 2012, accessed: 22 August 2012

In mid-July 2012 the Deutsche Rugby Tag, the annual general meeting of the DRV decided to approve a league reform proposed by German international Manuel Wilhelm. The new system will see the number of clubs in the Bundesliga increased from ten to 24 in 2012–13, the league divided into four regional divisions of six clubs each and the finals series expanded from four to eight teams. One of the main aims of the reform was to reduce the number of kilometres traveled by individual teams and therefore reduce the travel expenses. Additionally, the 2nd Bundesliga would be expanded to 24 teams.DRT 2012: Ligareform kommt / Vertrag mit DRV-Vermarkter wird überprüft totalrugby.de, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012DRT DRV website, published: 16 July 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012Rugby-Vizemeister TVPforzheim will 2013 den Titel holen Pforzheimer Zeitung, published: 9 May 2012, accessed: 24 July 2012

Bundesliga table The final standings in the table:Rugby Spielpläne - Archiv 2011/2012 : 1. Bundesliga www.rugbyweb.de, accessed: 22 August 20121. Bundesliga 2011/2012 totalrugby.de, accessed: 23 August 2012 ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDifferenceBonuspointsPoints 1 Heidelberger RK18170111002098911785 2 SC 1880 Frankfurt1815038372755621474 3 TV Pforzheim1815128343484861474 4 SC Neuenheim181107469390791054 5 TSV Handschuhsheim18819511593-821448 6 RG Heidelberg187110327507-180432 7 DSV 78 Hannover185112278629-351628 8 RK 03 Berlin185013372898-526627 9 Berliner Rugby Club182016321653-332917 10 RK Heusenstamm183015283830-547416 TV Pforzheim deducted 2 points. Relegated: None, league expanded to 22 teams in 2012-13 Promoted from the 2nd Bundesliga South/West: Heidelberger TV, RC Luxembourg, ASV Köln Rugby, RC Mainz, RC Aachen Promoted from the 2nd Bundesliga North/East: FC St. Pauli Rugby, SC Germania List, TSV Victoria Linden, Hamburger RC, Berliner SV 92, USV Potsdam Rugby (DRC Hannover withdrew before the first round due to a lack of players, therefore only 22 teams in the Bundesliga in 2012–13)DRC Hannover vor Neuanfang in der Regionalliga Nord totalrugby.de, published: 5 September 2012, accessed: 6 September 2012 Promoted from the Rugby-Regionalliga: RC Leipzig (Berlin Grizzlies withdrew before the start of the season, therefore only 22 teams in the Bundesliga in 2012–13)DRV veröffentlicht Vorrunden-Spielpläne für 1. und 2. Bundeslig totalrugby.de, published: 7 August 2012, accessed: 16 September 2012

Bundesliga results The results of the Bundesliga in 2011–12: Club HRK SCF TVP SCN TSV RGH DSV RKB BRC RKH Heidelberger RK — 22–19 24–17 34–3 147–12 45–5 102–0 109–7 50–0 99–0 SC 1880 Frankfurt 26–39 — 49–7 30–0 38–14 48–23 71–12 120–0 30–15 82–0 TV Pforzheim 26–24 27–17 — 37–20 62–39 67–21 60–18 104–24 54–7 41–7 SC Neuenheim 32–33 15–24 11–20 — 26–22 15–16 33–15 71–14 27–10 29–8 TSV Handschuhsheim 10–58 19–36 27–34 26–29 — 20–22 27–11 47–17 36–17 45–3 RG Heidelberg 26–46 14–37 27–27 21–24 10–32 — 31–0 21–7 20–13 10–26 DSV 78 Hannover 7–41 12–59 11–41 17–22 34–34 23–11 — 33–0 22–16 13–12 RK 03 Berlin 14–64 17–60 7–60 24–41 26–44 50–0 24–11 — 28–21 39–19 Berliner RC 0–75 15–27 13–78 8–33 8–11 10–16 34–39 51–36 — 40–25 RK Heusenstamm 5–88 24–64 12–72 31–38 15–46 17–33 11–10 22–38 46–43 —

Key Home win Draw Away win

Player statistics

Try scorers The leading try scores in the 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga season were (10 tries or more):1. Bundesliga 2011/2012 – Saisonstatistik Versuche totalrugby.de, accessed: 23 August 2012 PlayerClubTries Caine Elisara Heidelberger RK 31 Rusell Ngamarama Kupa TV Pforzheim 24 Shaun Walker Heidelberger RK 21 Tim Kasten Heidelberger RK 21 Jacob Kennedy TV Pforzheim 17 Rob May TSV Handschuhsheim 15 Manasah Sita SC Neuenheim 13 Jesse Westerlund Heidelberger RK 13 Alex Jessop TV Pforzheim 13 Afa Tauli TV Pforzheim 11 Steffen Liebig Heidelberger RK 11 Kieran Manawatu SC 1880 Frankfurt 10 Sean Armstrong Heidelberger RK 10

Point scorers The leading point scores in the 2011–12 Rugby-Bundesliga season were (100 points or more): PlayerClubPoints Luke James Muggeridge Heidelberger RK 234 Sam Harris SC Neuenheim 163 Mathias Pipa TSV Handschuhsheim 162 Caine Elisara Heidelberger RK 157 Jacob Kennedy TV Pforzheim 132 Fabian Heimpel RG Heidelberg 131 Jeremy Te Huia TV Pforzheim 121 Alex Jessop TV Pforzheim 112 Tim Kasten Heidelberger RK 105 Shaun Walker Heidelberger RK 105

Per club The top try and point scorers per club were: ClubPlayerTriesPlayerPoints Berliner RCMannschaftskader Berliner Rugby Club totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Robert Taylor 5 Raphael Hackl 55 RK 03 BerlinMannschaftskader RK 03 Berlin totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Christian Lill 9 Christian Lill 45 SC 1880 FrankfurtMannschaftskader SC Frankfurt 1880 totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Kieran Manawatu 10 Kieran Manawatu 86 TSV HandschuhsheimMannschaftskader TSV Handschuhsheim totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Rob May 15 Mathias Pipa 162 DSV 78 HannoverMannschaftskader DSV Hannover 78 totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Nikolai Siekmann 6 Steven Bouajila 48 RG HeidelbergMannschaftskader RG Heidelberg totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Bastian Himmer 6 Fabian Heimpel 131 Heidelberger RKMannschaftskader Heidelberger RK totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Caine Elisara 31 Luke James Muggeridge 234 RK HeusenstammMannschaftskader RK Heusenstamm totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Benjamin Polheim Patrick Weber Tim Biniak 5 Pascal Schuster 76 SC NeuenheimMannschaftskader SC Neuenheim totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Manasah Sita 13 Sam Harris 163 TV PforzheimMannschaftskader TV Pforzheim totalrugby.de, accessed: 26 August 2012 Rusell Ngamarama Kupa 24 Jacob Kennedy 132

Semi-finals and final

Semi-finals

Final

2nd Bundesliga tables

South/West The final standings in the table:Rugby Spielpläne - Archiv 2011/2012 : 2. Bundesliga Süd www.rugbyweb.de, accessed: 22 August 2012Herren: 2. Bundesliga Süd DRV website, accessed: 1 September 2012 ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDifferenceBonusPointsPoints 1 SC 1880 Frankfurt II1612044462142321462 2 Heidelberger TV161006436269167848 3 RC Luxembourg16100634727671646 4 ASV Köln Rugby1610063183171545 5 Heidelberger RK II16709389406-17836 6 RC Mainz166010289392-103832 7 München RFC166010220263-43630 8 TSV Handschuhsheim II16709250434-184327 9 RC Aachen164012270394-124721 Promoted to Bundesliga: Heidelberger TV, RC Luxembourg, ASV Köln Rugby, RC Mainz, RC Aachen Relegated from Bundesliga: None Relegated from 2nd Bundesliga South/West: TSV Handschuhsheim II (demoted), Heidelberger RK II (voluntary) Promoted to 2nd Bundesliga South/West: Division disbanded

North/East The final standings in the table:Rugby Spielpläne - Archiv 2011/2012 : 2. Bundesliga Nord www.rugbyweb.de, accessed: 22 August 2012Herren: 2. Bundesliga Nord DRV website, accessed: 1 September 2012 ClubPlayedWonDrawnLostPoints forPoints againstDifferenceBonusPointsPoints 1 FC St. Pauli Rugby1413015371903471163 2 SC Germania List141004453197256848 3 USV Potsdam Rugby1481539030585842 4 Hamburger RC1470728726621634 5 DRC Hannover14716254346-92434 6 TSV Victoria Linden14608256302-46933 7 Berliner SV 92 Rugby144010194403-209319 8 Welfen Braunschweig140014117479-36255 9 RU Hohen Neuendorf000000000 Promoted to Bundesliga: FC St. Pauli Rugby, SC Germania List, TSV Victoria Linden, DRC Hannover, Hamburger RC, Berliner SV 92, USV Potsdam Rugby Relegated from Bundesliga: None Relegated from 2nd Bundesliga North/East: RU Hohen Neuendorf (demoted), DRC Hannover (voluntary) Promoted to 2nd Bundesliga North/East: Division disbanded

2nd Bundesliga final

References

External links rugbyweb.de - Rugby-Bundesliga table & results Totalrugby.de - Bundesliga table & results