The kick off to the first German Bundesliga, which got off to a dramatic start in the Rheinland-Westphalen town of Hochspeyer on Friday night with a tense 8-4 victory by visiting Heidelberg, has been lauded a tremendous success by Germany National Development Manager Uwe Jansen.

“This is just the first small step to develop the game in Germany,” said Jansen. “We will work hard to fulfill our goals, but if the thoughts of the players are anything to go by the future’s looking bright. If we can improve our structure we will progress every year.”

Try scorers Kevin Klein and Vincent Speis, two 17-year-old forwards hailing from the German rugby union capital of Heidelberg, thoroughly enjoyed their competitive debuts, with the latter thrilled with the physical edge of rugby league: “the feeling of making so many tackles in one match is the best experience I’ve ever had playing sport!” Klein, brought up on a diet of union in the old university city, was similarly concise in his praise: "rugby league is clearly much better than sevens or 15-a-side rugby."

Their opposite try scorer, Hochspeyer captain Timo Trösch, was satisfied with the league kick off, despite the loss: “It was great to see such a big number of players on the field to start our rugby league competition.”