For the first time, a German 7-a-side rugby national team takes part in a World Cup. Just qualifying is a win. Players and coaches want to compete against the top nations in South Africa and get more attention for their sport.
The best rugby teams in the world meet in Cape Town from September 9th to 11th – with Germany among them. In the first game, Chile is still a feasible task for the Germans. Should the first knockout round go through, hosts and top favorites South Africa will be the opponents. National coach Clemens von Grumbkow expects “full focus” from his team and would like to finish at least in the top 16.
World Cup qualification a success for Germany
The German national team already achieved historic things with the qualification in July. Never before has a German senior team played in a 7-a-side Rugby World Cup. A dream setting with 60,000 rugby fans awaits the players at the Cape Town Stadium in September.
The German 7-a-side rugby national team manages to qualify for the World Cup in Bucharest
For the 32-year-old playmaker Fabian Heimpel there is a clear goal for his 50th tournament: “We have to show that it’s not a matter of luck that the Germans are there. We want to sell ourselves well and show that we’re one of the better European teams teams belong,” he says in an interview with SWR Sport.
More attention for the sport of rugby
Playmaker Bastian van der Bosch still can’t quite believe what he and his team-mates have achieved in qualifying for the World Cup. The 31-year-old tried to qualify for the big event ten years ago. Back then, the players trained only four times a week and had no coach. A lot has happened since then. The professionalization of the training conditions shows its first successes.
The atmosphere in the “Wolfpack”, the nickname of the team preparing for the World Cup in the German rugby stronghold of Heidelberg, is very good: “Everyone is happy, you can tell in every training session that the anticipation is growing.” Van der Bosch also wants to win the first game against Chile next Friday, everything after that is a “bonus,” he tells SWR Sport. But there is one thing he wishes most: “I hope that Rugby 7s will become more popular in the years to come.”
