Netherlands national rugby union team
 | |||
| Union | Nederlandse Rugby Bond | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Oranje | ||
| Coach(es) | Zane Gardiner | ||
| Captain(s) | Dirk Danen | ||
| Most caps | Marc Visser (67)[1] | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Netherlands 6 - 6 Belgium  (1 July 1930) | |||
| Largest win | |||
Netherlands 62–0 Denmark  (6 October 1973) | |||
| Largest defeat | |||
 England 110–0 Netherlands (14 November 1998) | |||
The Netherlands national rugby union team (Dutch: Nederlands nationaal rugbyteam) represents Netherlands in men's international rugby competitions, first played in 1930. The team competes in the 2017–18 Rugby Europe Trophy of the European Nations Cup, and has never qualified for the Rugby World Cup.
The national side is ranked 25th in the world (as of 29 July 2019).[2]
History
The Netherlands played their first game in 1930, against Belgium on July 1. The Netherlands played Belgium and Germany as well as Romania. During the 1940s they played regularly against Belgium and Germany. The 1960s saw the side play West Germany regularly as well as other fixtures including matches against Poland, Sweden, Spain and Czechoslovakia. The 1970s saw fixtures played against teams including Italy. They won a number of games from 1984 through to 1987.
Currently the team plays in the European Nations Cup. Since the introduction of the Rugby World Cup, the Netherlands has yet to qualify for the finals tournament.
The first participation in the qualification was for the 1991 World Cup, team reached the final phase of the European qualification, but finished on the fourth place, losing all three games.
European Nations Cup
The 2010–12 European Nations Cup Division 1B was a very disappointing performance from the Dutch side as they won only 1 of their 10 games, and they were therefore relegated for the 2012–14 European Nations Cup First Division.
For the 2010-11 season, they lost all 5 of their games with their first to Czech Republic by 25 – 13, which was followed by a 29 – 10 loss to Germany. They then lost to Poland, Belgium and Moldova 32 – 18, 30 – 18 and 22 – 15 respectively.
The 2011-12 season started with another loss to Germany 23 – 7, followed by Czech Republic 22 – 10 and the worst of the lot, a 58 – 3 slaughtering at the hands of Belgium. They then had something to smile about even though it had no outcome to their final standing, as they beat Moldova 40 – 26, but finished off a very disappointing year with a 32 – 19 loss to Poland.
The 2016-17 season is one of the best seasons to date for Rugby Nederland. The young and fairly less physical team in their pool of the FIRA European Nations Cup 1B managed to finish 2nd. The highly motivated, young team play exciting fast rugby and are to be considered as an up and coming rugby nation.
Current squad
Netherlands squad for the 2018–19 Rugby Europe Trophy, against Portugal (9 March 2019).
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
See also
References
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-26. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ https://www.world.rugby/rankings/mru?lang=en
External links
- (in Dutch) Nederlandse Rugby Bond - Official Site
- Netherlands at RugbyData.com
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