Heidelberg. The national coaches of the German men’s and women’s 7-a-side rugby national teams have named their squads for the first tournament of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship. Both tournaments take place in parallel on the weekend of 25./26. June in Lisbon, Portugal.
No big surprises in both the teams. In the men’s tournament, for example, the coaches have to do without the uncapped Max Kalitze or the injured Phil Szczesny. At least Calitz would probably stand for another tournament at 2./3. Available again Jul in Krakow (POL). In any case, according to national coach Clemens von Grumbko, Rugby Germany is attacking Europe’s top team with a strong squad.
“Our squad is broad enough that we can even cover such absences. Call-ups can also join the team immediately if required. The team’s form is definitely improving. Very well done, very well done on the adapted play system and the boys keep getting better and better at it. I am really looking forward to seeing the boys in action with their full might. Any Case in point, it looks really cool in training.
With this squad, the Germans will fly to Lusso in Portugal on June 21, where a preparatory camp will be completed before the final squad of 13 leaves for Lisbon.
RG Heidelberg: Carlos Soteres Merz, Bastian van der Bosch, Fabian Heimpel, Tim Lichtenberg
TSV Glowsheim: anjo buckman
SC Germania List: nicholas koch
RK Heusenstam: Samuel Ranger, Leon Heiss
SC Neuenheim: jacob dipper
Berlin RC: Chris Umeh
FC St. Pauli: Ben Ellerman
Blackheath Rugby (England): Howard Packman
Terrain College RFC (IRL): jack hunt
Without club: Jonathan Dawe
on demand: Benedict Spiess, Robin Plumpe (RG Heidelberg), Philipp Gleitz (Berliner RC)
Overall, the coaches are sticking to routine for this European Championship tournament. Only youngster Jacob Dipper and former English U20 and 7s national player Howard Packman, who are officially eligible to play for Germany, are new to the German EM squad. Both made a very good impression in the preparatory tournament as well as in training and thus earned a place in the team.
This time an unusual tournament format for both men and women will be played in Lisbon. There is a preliminary round with groups of five national teams each, and then only one more game to determine placement. The group plays against the winner of the second group for the first tournament win, the second for each third place and so on. Rugby Europe justifies this with so-called player welfare. In the coming weeks, the schedule is so packed with the European Championship tournament, World Cup qualification, World Series qualification and then the World Cup in Cape Town (RSA) that players may not want to expect too much to play. game unnecessarily.
“This means that practically every group game has the character of a final. You really shouldn’t let yourself slip,” said coach von Grumbko. “But we will take it as it comes. Our preparation was good and we can start the tournament with confidence. And Luso’s day will do us good again.”
For the Wolfpack, things are about to get serious. In the very first group game, you get to face France. However, it is unclear what kind of team Equipe Tricolore will field in the European Championships after a long and difficult World Series season. “But France is so widely situated that a second suit would still be a strong opponent,” von Grumbko knows.
This will be followed by matches against Poland, Lithuania and then Italy on Sunday morning in what is expected to be a final for rugby Germany.
German women remain above as minimum target
In parallel with the men, the German women are also hosting their first tournament of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship 2022 in Lisbon. National coach Ciaran Anderson has also named a provisional squad for this, which is to be reduced to one player before the start of the tournament.
RK 03 Berlin: Julia Brown
TSV GloSym: Manja Bechtel, Catalina Bechtel, Annika Novotny
RG Heidelberg: Clara Tauschek
Heidelberg RK: Johanna Hacker, Mette Zimmat, Ronja Stauch
sc germania list: Gesin Adler, Katharina App
SC Neuenheim: Steffi Gruber, Sarah Gossman
RC Leipzig: Paula Schulte
Without club: sophie fella
In the absence of relegated holders Russia, Rugby Germany will face Scotland first in the group stage, followed by Romania, opponents they did better last year and who certainly need to be beaten this time around. In the third game, it is against the newly promoted team of Ireland and finally against last year’s third place in the European Championship, Spain.
“Our minimum target is to finish in the top 8, of course we want to remain among the best teams in Europe,” said national coach Andersen. “But of course we want to try to climb as high as possible in the rankings. Maybe a placement in the top 6 or even the top 4 is within the realm of possibility.” Will focus on executing his game plan as best as possible. We recently saw that we too can be dangerous.
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