GERMANY v POLAND: World Cup Qualifying Europe R4; European Nations Cup Division 1B

09.11.2013

Venue: Sport Forum, Berlin

Referee: Cammy Rudkin (Scotland)

Preview
Germany and Poland look to be the main contenders for promotion to ENC 1A for 2014-2016. Both have good recent records, both lie near the top of the table and both have good recent form.

Poland has just returned from a grand overseas rugby venture. They were recently invited to participate in the IRB Serindib tournament held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Although losing both games this would have been a very valuable test rugby experience for the Polish players. They didn’t have their strongest squad but these kind of test matches are very much the future for teams at this rugby level. The question is have they been able to recover from two games in quick succession and the rigors of such a journey.

Germany has won its last four test matches in a row and with the home advantage will take a lot to defeat.

Last Five Encounters
03.11.2012 Poland 22-13 in Gdansk (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)
19.11.2011 Poland 34-8 in Gdansk (ENC 1B)
20.11.2010 Poland 22-17 in Frankfurt (ENC 1B)
16.05.2004 Germany 34-10 in Hanover (ENC 2A)
29.03.2003 Germany 37-15 in Gdansk (ENC 2A)

Germany Last Five P 5, W 4, L 1
26.10.2013 v Ukraine W 28-16 in Kharkov (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)06.04.2013 v Sweden W 73-17 in Hamburg (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)09.03.2013 v Czech Republic W 27-8 in Prague (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)
17.11.2012 v Moldova W 32-14 in Heidelberg (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)
03.11.2012 v Poland L 13-22 in Gdansk (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)

Poland Last Five P 5, W 2, L 3
01.11.2013 v Sri Lanka L 25-26 in Colombo (IRB Serindib Tri-Nations)29.10.2013 v Madagascar L 21-25 in Colombo (IRB Serindib Tri-Nations)
12.10.2013 v Czech Republic W 30-10 in Warsaw (WCQ Euro.R4; ENC 1B)
07.09.2013 v Sweden W 30-9 in Warsaw (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)01.06.2013 v Sweden L 11-19 (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Poland 10th, Germany 14th

IRB Ranking Points
Germany 56.76, Poland 52.77

Prediction: A very close game with Poland winning by 2 points

TEAMS

Poland

Poland squad ( not shirt numbers ) http://pzrugby.pl/?p=10517
1.Kaszuba Sławomir 2.Bachurzewski Craig 3.Kwiatkowski Rafał 4.Chróściel Adrian 5.Bobryk Kamil 6.Janiec Grzegorz 7.Wierzejski Michał 8.Krużycki Michał 9.Perzak Karol 10.Dąbrowski Paweł 11.Niedźwiedzki Stanisław 12.Majcher Cyprian 13.Płonka Marek 14.Bartoszek Mateusz 15.Szostek Łukasz 16.Janeczko Rafał 17.Wilczuk Mariusz 18.Szrejber Rafał 19.Rokicki Tomasz 20.Pawelec Robert 21.Lorentowicz Dawid 22.Banaszek Dawid 23.Sirocki Szymon 24.Gasik Tomasz 25.Jurkowski Piotr.
Thanks to http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4417&sid=378ae4ccb7f822b041af06578a550381

German Squad not yet published

For a complete list of test rugby results by both Poland and Germany go to www.rugbyinternational.net