The German national rugby team finished the European Championship in sixth place after another defeat.
Coach Mark Kuhlmann’s team lost the game for fifth place in Amsterdam on Sunday against the Netherlands by 28:50 (0:28). The chances of staying up are still good: Only the last of the eight teams will be relegated after the second European Championship tournament next year.
Nikolas Rinklin (41st), Leo Wolf (57th) and captain Felix Lammers (71st) laid the German attempts, Edoardo Stella was successful with the increase. In addition, Germany scored a penalty attempt. As with the narrow bankruptcy (29:33) against the neighbors in the group phase, Germany got off to a false start: after 14 minutes it was already 0:21. However, there was no attempt to catch up again.
The German selection won only one of their five games. In the semi-finals of the placement round, the Kuhlmann team in Poland (23:18) prevailed. However, sixth place could already be half the battle for staying up in the league. Germany only has to leave Belgium or Poland behind at the next tournament.
Relegation would be a success for the clammy association. Unlike the competition, the promoted team had to do without legionnaires almost entirely during the course of the tournament, and in the Netherlands captain Jörn Schröder also dropped out.
Georgia successfully defended the European Championship title. In the final against World Cup participants Portugal, the team from the Caucasus achieved a clear 38:11 (12:11) victory and thus celebrated their sixth European Championship triumph in a row.