The second match in the Western Cup takes place in Rotterdam tomorrow (Saturday) when the Netherlands face Germany, it also doubles up as the annual Griffin Cup contest between the nations which the visitors have won on the last three occasions. Belgium triumphed in the opening Western Cup fixture last weekend when they scored two late tries to defeat Germany 26-12 in Dortmund.
“The selection process for this year’s squad has been the most thorough process there has ever been for the Netherlands Rugby League Bond,” said their coach Kane Krilic. “Only those who have played in the domestic competition were made eligible for selection where our player pool has quadrupled over the last three years. We invited 35 players to a selection day and chose 22 to take on a three day training camp.”
Krilic added: “One pleasing aspect is the age of this squad, there has been a conscious decision to select a high number of players under 23, with the exciting prospect of being able to develop them over the coming years. It is important that we stick to our philosophy of creating a strong, self-sustaining domestic competition rather than looking for quick fixes. During camp, the players had to take on a lot of information in a short amount of time but they should all be applauded for their performance efforts which we are eager to see now on match day.”
Following on from last week’s narrow loss, the Germans are looking to get back to winning ways. “We were very disappointed to have given victory away only 10 minutes from the end of the match,” commented joint head coach Bob Doughton. “We made far too many basic errors and didn’t stick to our game plan. The special feature about this Germany squad is that there are no heritage players, all of them are based in Germany and have taken part in our domestic competition."
The German squad of 18 travelling represents nine clubs. In the final match of this tri-nations series, Holland visit Belgium in September.
Pictured: the Netherlands will be looking to run away from Germany.
NETHERLANDS 23-MAN SQUAD
Ciaran Jaras, Daan van Rossum, David Scholte, Marijn Steenland (Amsterdam Cobras), Patrick Neuteboom, Joe Storm, Jacobus Wabeke (Den Haag Knights), Benjamin van Bodergraven, Nico Henken, Engin Hoke, Santino Landus, Daniel de Ruiter, Ruben Stuifzand (Harderwijk Dolphins) Taco de Boer, Jason Bruygoms, Sjoerd Dijkshoorn, Patrick Funk, Wouter Naloop, Edson Neves, Emerson Rosario de Werk, Daniel van Waas, Joel Wunderink, Thijs van der Zouwen (Rotterdam Pitbulls)
GERMANY 18-MAN SQUAD
Sebastian Peter, David Ziekursch (Berlin), Florian Frede (Bremen), Liam Doughton, Vivian Seelweger (Dortmund), Karsten Brüning, Jannek Hagenah (Karlshöfen), Mawuli Amefia (Karlsruhe), Joshua Leutenecker, Sebastian Roczyn (Leipzig), Ingo Borgdorf, Felix Buhla, Arne Falk, Jörg Schlarb, Marc Zupan (Münster), Rico Wall (Osnabrück), Zak Bredin, Eddie Briggs (Paderborn)