The Netherlands national rugby union team (Dutch: Nederlands nationaal rugby team) represents Netherlands in men's international rugby union competitions. Nicknamed The Oranges (Oranje), is considered one of the stronger tier 3 teams in European rugby and currently compete in the second division of the Rugby Europe International Championships in the Rugby Europe Trophy, a competition which is just below the Rugby Europe Championship where the top 6 countries in Europe (apart from the teams in the Six Nations) compete. They are yet to participate in any Rugby World Cup.
 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Oranje (The Oranges) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Dutch Rugby Union | ||
| Head coach | Lyn Jones | ||
| Captain | Dirk Danen | ||
| Most caps | Marc Visser (67) | ||
| Home stadium | NRCA Stadium | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 27 (as of 5 February 2024) | ||
| Highest | 23 (2018) | ||
| Lowest | 48 (2008) | ||
| First international | |||
 Netherlands 0–6 Belgium  (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1 July 1930) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Netherlands 62–0 Denmark  (Hilversum, Netherlands; 6 October 1973) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 England 110–0 Netherlands (Huddersfield, England; 14 November 1998) | |||
| Website | www.rugby.nl | ||
History edit
The Netherlands played their first ever game in 1930, against Belgium on 1 July. 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 many teams, notably Scotland XV in October 1978 & Italy.
Record edit
| Top 30 as of 27 May 2024[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Change* | Team | Points | |
| 1 |  |  South Africa | 94.54 | |
| 2 | |  Ireland | 90.69 | |
| 3 | |  New Zealand | 89.80 | |
| 4 | |  France | 87.92 | |
| 5 | | England | 85.75 | |
| 6 | |  Scotland | 82.82 | |
| 7 | |  Argentina | 80.68 | |
| 8 | |  Italy | 79.41 | |
| 9 | |  Australia | 77.48 | |
| 10 | |  Wales | 77.26 | |
| 11 | |  Fiji | 76.38 | |
| 12 | |  Japan | 74.27 | |
| 13 | |  Georgia | 74.02 | |
| 14 | |  Samoa | 72.23 | |
| 15 | |  Tonga | 71.57 | |
| 16 | |  Portugal | 70.28 | |
| 17 | |  United States | 67.94 | |
| 18 | |  Uruguay | 67.39 | |
| 19 | |  Spain | 64.37 | |
| 20 | |  Romania | 61.66 | |
| 21 | |  Canada | 60.90 | |
| 22 | |  Namibia | 60.56 | |
| 23 | |  Chile | 60.49 | |
| 24 | |  Hong Kong | 59.80 | |
| 25 | |  Russia | 58.06 | |
| 26 | |  Switzerland | 57.44 | |
| 27 | | Netherlands | 57.29 | |
| 28 | | Belgium | 55.89 | |
| 29 | |  Brazil | 55.37 | |
| 30 | |  Korea | 53.46 | |
| * Change from the previous week | ||||
| Netherlands's historical rankings | ||||
See or edit source data. | ||||
| Source: World Rugby[1] Graph updated to 27 May 2024 | ||||
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Netherlands national XV at test level up until 17 March 2024.
| Opponents | Matches | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Aga | Diff | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andorra | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 140 | 116 | +24 | 100% |
| Belgium | 45 | 20 | 4 | 21 | 475 | 539 | –64 | 44.44% |
 Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 10 | +35 | 100% |
 Croatia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 19 | +28 | 100% |
 Czech Republic | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 91 | +45 | 60% |
| Czechoslovakia | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 88 | 99 | –11 | 28.57% |
| Denmark | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 311 | 57 | +254 | 90% |
 East Germany | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 35 | –15 | 50% |
| Georgia | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 107 | 355 | –248 | 12.5% |
 Germany | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 342 | 290 | +52 | 55.56% |
| Hong Kong | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 10 | +15 | 50% |
| England | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 110 | –110 | 0% |
 Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 0 | +56 | 100% |
| Italy | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 27 | 178 | –151 | 0% |
| Emerging Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 50 | -45 | 0% |
| Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 100% |
 Latvia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 23 | +11 | 100% |
 Lithuania | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 34 | +56 | 66.67% |
 Malta | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 9 | +18 | 100% |
 Morocco | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 88 | 111 | –23 | 42.86% |
 Moldova | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 77 | 85 | –8 | 33.33% |
 Poland | 21 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 334 | 324 | +10 | 38.1% |
| Portugal | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 172 | 349 | –177 | 7.14% |
| Romania | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 76 | 393 | –317 | 0% |
| Russia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 47 | 243 | –169 | 0% |
 Serbia and Montenegro | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 93 | 40 | +53 | 66.67% |
| Spain | 18 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 152 | 537 | –385 | 0% |
| South Korea | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 108 | –63 | 50% |
 Sweden | 19 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 444 | 186 | +258 | 94.74% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 22 | +25 | 100% |
 Tunisia | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 86 | 53 | +33 | 80% |
 Ukraine | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 71 | 88 | –17 | 25% |
 Uganda | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | +42 | 100% |
| West Germany | 28 | 9 | 1 | 18 | 279 | 481 | –202 | 32.14% |
 Zimbabwe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 30 | –23 | 0% |
| Total | 262 | 114 | 13 | 135 | 4138 | 5008 | –870 | 43.51% |
Current squad edit
On 22 January 2022, the following 49 players were called up for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship.[2][3]
Head Coach: Dick Muir (as of 2 June 2022)
- Caps Updated: 23 January 2021
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
- *: Also a member of Delta squad, playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
- **: Servette is a Swiss club but plays in the French league.
Call-ups edit
On 10 February Spike Salman of Racing 92 was called up to the squad.[4]
Current coaching staff edit
The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:[5]
| Name | Nationality | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Lyn Jones | WAL | Head coach |
| Gareth Gilbert | RSA | Assistant coach |
| Allard Jonkers | NED | Assistant coach |
| Emmanuel Peyrezabes | FRA | Strength and Conditioning coach |
| Antoine van den Berg | NED | Physiotherapist |
| Sebastiaan van Osch | NED | Physiotherapist |
| Kevan Gallagher | NED | Video analyst |
| Jan van Diest | NED | Manager |
Past Coaches edit
Since 1997
| Years | Coach |
|---|---|
| 1997–2000 | Geoff Old |
| 2001–2004 | Robbie Allen |
| 2004 | Alex O'Dowd |
| 2005–2006 | Iain Krysztofiak |
| 2007 | Eric Hangeveld |
| 2008 | Robin Raphael |
| 2009 | Hugues Dispas |
| 2009 | Robin Raphael (Caretaker) |
| 2009–2010 | Hugues Dispas |
| 2010–2011 | Jean Bidal |
| 2011 | Silvester Ramaker |
| 2011–2016 | Alex Chang |
| 2016–2019 | Gareth Gilbert |
| 2019–2022 | Zane Gardiner |
| 2022 | Dick Muir (interim) |
| 2022–present | Lyn Jones |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b "Men's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ Netherlands`s squad for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship
- ^ "Trainingsselectie Championship 2022 bekend". 22 January 2022.
- ^ "Nederland speelt tegen regerend kampioen Georgië". 10 February 2022.
- ^ "Netherlands National Rugby Union Team Coaching Staff". www.rugby.nl. Dutch Rugby Union.
External links edit
- Dutch Rugby Union - Official Site (in Dutch)