Recently appointed Germany head coach Lofty Stevenson tells us how he reckons his side will fare at this weekend's European Trophy. Stevenson says Germany are a team for the future, and with a wealth of new faces in the squad competing in France, four games in a tight period will be of major benefit.
Tell us a bit about women’s rugby in Germany
Germany has several women’s leagues nationally and regionally operating in Autumn and Spring competitions. We have a 15’s league of 6 teams at the moment with growth for next year and beyond looking very encouraging our finals have been played in the last two weeks. Koln won the National 10’s final and HRK won the National 15’s final both playing attractive running rugby. We don’t have much more than 1,000 female players at the moment but we are on the increase and we have a promising National 7’s team, that is also developing well.
How have you prepared for this tournament?
We have had one game against a Netherlands side with a German Selection XV last month (Germany lost 83-0) I was happy with the development of the game and the direction of the girls, we had some problems reading the refereeing of the breakdown and we did not react to the referee’s style well at all, but we missed too many tackles which showed on the score board.
At the Europeans you will play Russia, Italy and Sweden. How do you think each game will go?
We will naturally be hoping to play our best in every game and in rugby that takes a lot of effort so we will be calling on all our resources, to play these experienced sides, -4 games in 9 days is a mountain for Germany, but we like climbing so that is a good start! Actually we have many new caps in the squad so we are excited for them and the opportunities this championship offers our young players, the experienced players will be few so we are coming to learn and to develop over the four games.
Would you like to play more regularly as an international team?
Naturally we would like to have played more games as a team before coming to the championships, and moving forward our goals will be to play as often as possible mindful of funding.
What are the aims for the international team in the coming years?
In the first instance we need to fully understand the game and to be able to play in a comfortable and familiar team environment, which can only come after we play a good number of games together, so in many ways this is the beginning of a new era in German Frauen rugby. We have wonderfully athletic girls who have a strong commitment to the game and are passionate about training and learning, so we are the team to look out for in the future and to enjoy watching in the present.
For a preview of pool one at the European Trophy click here
