Netherlands national rugby union team

Netherlands

Nickname(s)	Oranje (The Oranges)
Union	Dutch Rugby Union
Head coach
Captain
Most caps	(67)
Home stadium	NRCA Stadium
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	24 (as of 19 July 2021)
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

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.

History[]

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 Italy.

Record[]

Men's World Rugby Rankings v t Top 30 as of 13 September 2021[1]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		South Africa	092.49
2		New Zealand	090.31
3		England	085.44
4		Ireland	084.85
5	2	Australia	084.11
6	1	France	083.87
7	1	Argentina	082.86
8		Scotland	082.02
9		Wales	080.59
10		Japan	079.13
11		Fiji	076.87
12		Georgia	073.73
13		Samoa	073.59
14		Italy	070.65
15		Tonga	068.57
16	1	United States	067.12
17	1	Uruguay	067.02
18		Romania	066.22
19		Portugal	065.67
20		Spain	064.82
21		Canada	062.08
22		Hong Kong	061.23
23		Russia	060.94
24		Netherlands	059.30
25		Namibia	059.04
26		Brazil	056.32
27		Belgium	056.16
28		Chile	055.20
29		Switzerland	054.12
30		Germany	053.13
* Change from the previous week

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Netherlands national XV at test level up until 24 June 2021.

Opponents	Matches	Won	Draw	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Pts Difference	Win%
Andorra	3	3	0	0	140	116	+24	100%
Belgium	44	19	4	21	444	520	–76	43.2%
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	28.5%
Denmark	10	9	0	1	311	57	+254	90%
East Germany	2	1	0	1	20	35	–15	50%
Georgia	4	1	0	3	64	164	–100	25%
Germany	14	6	0	8	175	220	–45	42.8%
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%
Japan	4	0	0	4	15	13	+2	0%
Latvia	3	3	0	0	134	23	+11	100%
Lithuania	3	2	0	1	90	34	+56	75%
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	33.3%
Poland	20	7	2	11	280	317	–37	36.4%
Portugal	12	1	3	8	141	229	–88	29.1%
Romania	8	0	1	7	49	299	–250	6.25%
Russia	4	0	0	4	39	208	–169	0%
Serbia and Montenegro	6	4	0	2	93	40	+53	66.6%
Spain	14	0	1	13	107	394	–287	3.5%
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	33.9%
Total	246	107	13	126	3732	4329	–597	43.49%

Current squad[]

On the 24th of June 2021, the following 25 players were called up for the 2021 Rugby Europe Championship matches against Georgia, Portugal and Spain^[2]

Head Coach:

• Caps Updated: 24 June 2021

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Club/province
	Hooker			Maidenhead RFC
	Hooker
	Hooker
	Prop
	Prop
	Prop			RC 't Gooi
	Prop
	Lock			RC 't Gooi
	Lock			RFC Haarlem
	Lock
	Lock			Bourg-en-Bresse
	Flanker
	Flanker
	Flanker
	Number 8
	Number 8
	Scrum-half
	Scrum-half
	Scrum-half
	Scrum-half
	Fly-half
	Fly-half
	Centre
	Centre			Aparejadores
	Centre
	Wing
	Wing
	Wing
	Fullback

Current coaching staff[]

The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:^[3]

Name	Nationality	Role
	NED	Manager
	NZL	Head coach
	NED	Assistant coach
	SCO	Assistant coach
Emmanuel Peyrezabes	FRA	Strength and Conditioning coach
Dr. Frank van Hellemondt	NED	Team doctor
Antoine van den Berg	NED	Physiotherapist
Sebastiaan van Osch	NED	Physiotherapist
Adam Doherty	IRE	Mental coach
Antoine van den Berg	NED	Covid manager

See also[]

• Rugby union in the Netherlands
• Dutch Rugby Union
• Netherlands women's national rugby union team
• Netherlands national under-20 rugby union team
• Netherlands national rugby sevens team
• Netherlands women's national rugby sevens team
• Sport in Netherlands

References[]

External links[]

• Dutch Rugby Union - Official Site (in Dutch)