From Friday to Sunday the European Championship in Rugby 7s will take place in Hamburg. In the Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, the twelve best men’s and women’s teams fight for the title. Germany only has outsider chances.
This has to do with the “Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series” mode, because the European Championship is held in two sections. In June there was already a game in the Portuguese Algarve. Now it’s time for the finale on the Elbe – in the end, the teams that have scored the most points at both events will become European champions. And neither the German men nor the women finished seventh in Portugal.
Nevertheless, national player and local hero Ben Ellermann emphasized on Monday in the Hanseatic city: “The anticipation is huge.” The player from FC St. Pauli, who dreams of the tournament being held at the Millerntor Stadium, would like to play for victory at the weekend. “We want to win the trophy,” said the 25-year-old after the rather disappointing performance in the first tournament.
Sports park Steinwiesenweg rebuilt for EM
The European Championship will be played in Hamburg for the first time since 2009, but according to the will of Sports Senator Andy Grote (SPD), it should remain in Hamburg permanently. Corresponding talks with the umbrella organization Rugby Germany and the continental association are already underway. The Steinwiesenweg sports park in Hamburg-Eidelstedt was specially rebuilt for the event and is intended to offer space for up to 4,000 spectators. The game is played in three groups of four. The group winners and runners-up as well as the two best third-placed teams advance to the quarter-finals.
The men’s favorites are the teams from Ireland, Georgia and France, who took the first three places in Portugal. Germany last won the title in 2019 – they came second in 2018, 2021 and 2022.
The goals of German women are not quite as ambitious. “We want to be at least seventh again,” said national player Gesine Adler from Hanover. The top three in Portugal were France, Great Britain and Ireland.
Olympia again without German rugby teams
The German rugby teams have already missed a major goal: the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will take place without them. Both men and women were defeated by Great Britain in the quarter-finals at the European Games in Kraków. The so-called repechage tournament for the last Olympic ticket was missed.
Sevens rugby has been an Olympic game since the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. Fiji won the men’s gold medal, while Australia (Rio) and New Zealand (Tokyo) won the women’s event. German teams have not yet managed to qualify. However, the German “Wolfspack” qualified for the World Cup for the first time last year. However, the Vice European Champion couldn’t do better than 18th place at the premiere.
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Sports current | 07/03/2023 | 1:17 p.m
