The Germany women's national rugby union team (german: Deutsche Rugby-Union-Nationalmannschaft der Frauen) are a national sporting side of

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, representing them at

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

. They made their first

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

appearance at the 1998 tournament in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and made their last appearance at the 2002 Rugby World Cup in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. They regularly compete in the

Rugby Europe Women's Championship The Rugby Europe Women's Championship is an international competition contested between women's national teams who are members of Rugby Europe (known from 1999 to 2014 as FIRA - Association of European Rugby, and FIRA before that). The competition ...

History

The German women's national rugby union team was founded in 1989. Back then women's rugby was still part of the "Deutsche Rugby Jugend", the youth rugby organization in Germany. After only 2 training camps in Wiedenbrück and

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

a team was formed with players from BSV 92 Berlin,

DRC Hannover The DRC Hannover is a German rugby union club from Hannover, currently playing in the Rugby-Regionalliga. The club should not be confused with the ''DRC 1884 Hannover'', a rowing club and a separate entity. History The club was formed in 1905 in ...

, RK Heusenstamm, SC Neuenheim, TV Wiedenbrück and

SV 08 Ricklingen The SV 08 Ricklingen is a German rugby union club from the Ricklingen suburb of Hanover. The team plays in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby. After having formed an on-the-field union with DSV 78 Hannover from 2003 to 2009 ...

. For their first international match the German women met Sweden in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1989 and lost only 0–8, and went on to qualify for the next two World Cups. However German national teams (fifteens and sevens) have suffered from limited financial support, and after the European Championship finals in April 2005 (where Germany finished fourth) the DRV officially disbanded the XVs national team for financial reasons. Though this was reversed a year later at the next General Assembly of the DRV, it was a set-back and Germany have struggled to keep up with their neighbours in this form of the game. Having played their last test match in 2010, Germany returned to test rugby in 2016 after a long six year absence. In 2019 Germany withdrew from the European Championships due to financial difficulties.

Records

Rugby World Cup

Overall

''(Full internationals only)''

Players

References

External links

Deutsche Rugby Frauen
- Official Site

- Official 7s Site {{Rugby union in Germany European national women's rugby union teams Rugby union in Germany

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...