East Germany national rugby union team

The East Germany national rugby union team was the representative side of East Germany in rugby union during the country's existence from 1949 to 1990.

East Germany
UnionDeutscher Rugby-Sportverband
Nickname(s)East German National Team
First international
 Romania 64 - 26 East Germany 
(21 October 1951)
Largest win
 East Germany 28 - 0 Sweden 
(16 August 1964)
Largest defeat
 Poland 73 - 0 East Germany 
(1975)

East Germany internationals

East Germany played its first rugby international in 1951 in Bucharest against the Romanians, losing 26-64. The East Germans played against mostly Eastern Bloc countries, but they did play Netherlands (once), Sweden (three times), Denmark (twice) and Luxembourg (once). Their one-game against Luxembourg also happened to be their last, taking place shortly before the reunification of Germany in 1990. Despite requests from its West German counterpart, the East German rugby body, DTSB, refused to permit an international against West Germany to take place and the two teams never played each other over their 40-year history.

Internationals
Country First Played Games Won Drew Lost
 Romania 1951 14 0 1 13
 Czechoslovakia 1956 16 3 2 11
 Netherlands 1958 1 1 0 0
 Poland 1958 13 2 1 10
 Sweden 1964 3 3 0 0
 Denmark 1964 2 2 0 0
 Bulgaria 1976 14 9 0 5
 Soviet Union 1978 2 0 0 2
 Yugoslavia 1978 1 0 0 1
 Hungary 1990 1 1 0 0
 Luxembourg 1990 1 0 0 1
Overall 68 21 4 43

The team did not compete in the FIRA championship but did take part in a number of four-nation tournaments: 1961 in Brno, 1964 in Malmö, 1978, 1979 and 1983 in Bulgaria (Varna and Nesebar).

GDR Coaches

The coaches of the GDR national team were the following:

Term Name
1951–1972 Erwin Thiesies
1972–1983 Dr. Detlef Krüger
1983–1985 Gerhard Schubert
1985–1990 Rüdiger Tanke
1990 Peter Gellert


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