World Cup qualification: Germany makes it to the Rugby 7’s World Cup for the first time

The German national team qualified for the 7-a-side World Cup in South Africa for the first time in history.

Rugby Germany has been waiting for this for 139 years: the German 7-a-side rugby national team has qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Leimen national coach Clemens von Grumbko’s team won the deciding quarter-final against Italy in the qualifying tournament in Bucharest on Sunday (July 17, 2022) and thus tickets to the highlights of the season in South Africa (September 9 to September 9). Bought. 11th)..

Heidelberg team captain Carlos Soteres Merz said in an interview with SWR Sport, “The first ten minutes after the game were really relieving. And then we sat in the dressing room and realized what we really achieved ” “We have come a long way and have been the best in the world on many occasions. And in the end this step means a lot to me personally, but also to the whole group.”

March through the preliminary round

The “Wolfpack” entered the preliminary round with three victories in the first three matches. Four victorious quarter-finalists are already taking part in the tournament in Cape Town. Never before has German men’s selection qualified for the World Cup in Olympic 7-a-side or 15-a-side rugby. “It is certainly a matter of great pride,” said national coach Clemens von Grumbko. “But we’re not really aware of it yet. We’ve worked very hard on it for the last 10, 15 years and have often fallen short. It’s incredible to make it now. And we’ve really felt it so far. Not there.”

The team finished the group stage as the third-best team after successes over Georgia (26:7), hosts Romania (52:0) and World Series team Wales (12:10) and were thus eliminated from the quarter-finals. It was done The European champions went to Spain and the Irish.

Women’s team failed against Poland

As expected, the German women missed the jump in the World Cup. National coach Sieran Andersen’s team, which had entered the quarter-finals as the best third-placed group with a three-game win, clearly lost 0:43 to the European champions of Poland. Coach Anderson remained calm. “I think we can be proud of this team,” he said. “Because they showed strong fighting performance and ultimately achieved what we set out to do, which was a place in the top eight teams and still in the playoffs.”