Netherlands national rugby union team

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 Scotland XV in October 1978 & Italy.

Record

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Netherlands national XV at test level up until 17 March 2024.

Current squad

On 22 January 2022, the following 49 players were called up for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship.

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

On 10 February Spike Salman of Racing 92 was called up to the squad.

Current coaching staff

The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:

Past Coaches

Since 1997

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)