A great day for German rugby

Edmonton – This guest has certainly confirmed that he has the level to permanently participate in a concert of greats: the sevens selection of the German Rugby Association (DRV), which won the World Series in Canada as an invitational team. The overall winners were South Africa and strong Kenyans among the winners.

A week after finishing ninth in Vancouver, the team around Sam Renger (RK Heusenstamm) in Edmonton went one better and was rewarded with a remarkable fifth place. It “could have been even higher,” said Manuel Wilhelm, a member of the DRV board for competitive games, in view of narrow defeats against Ireland (17:19 in first round game) and Kenya (17:24 in quarter). Final). This is “in no way a criticism of the performance, but only to underline that we can play to the fullest at this high level,” Wilhelm said. “Now, of course, we hope that we will have more opportunities to prove it again.”

Ranger wouldn’t mind. “We are hungry for more experiences like this,” said the 30-year-old, who was injured in the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, the two tournaments were “a huge experience”. “After such a good start in Vancouver and a little bit of bad luck, we had big plans for Edmonton.” it was clear. After unfortunate defeats against Ireland and victories against Great Britain (19:10) and Jamaica (55:5), Germany “almost finished first”, Renger said.

However, Great Britain made the move to Ireland and dismissed the ball at 12:12 to avoid Kenya in the quarter-finals. Instead, Germany met physically strong Africans and had the opportunity to give extra time in stoppage time. A wrong decision by the referee, for which he later apologized, prevented this.

In other games the response was all the more remarkable. There was a 21–7 win against Hong Kong and a dramatic 24:19 victory in extra time against the United States in the fifth-place game. Chris Umeh (Berlin RC) brilliantly blocked a counterattack shortly before the end of regular time when the score was 19:19: an American wanted to put the ball into goal, but the 1.97m giant stole it right up Took the sword Umeh was there again in “overtime” and attempted “golden”. “The boys showed German rugby spirit against the United States – with an impressive defense and incredible attitude”, praised national coach Damien McGraw and spoke of a “great day for German rugby”.