'Underdogs' Germany team prepared for World Championship challenge

Germany Men’s Sevens head coach Pablo Feijoo has branded his team as “underdogs” ahead of their HSBC SVNS World Championship debut in Hong Kong.

The Wolfpack have been named in Pool B with HSBC SVNS Series runners-up Fiji, 2024 Olympic champions France and basement side, Great Britain.

Germany qualified for World Championship tournaments in Hong Kong, Valladolid and Bordeaux, after just two HSBC SVNS 2 events. Victory in Nairobi was followed with silver in Montevideo before a sixth-place finish at an injury-ravaged São Paulo tournament.

At the end of the 12-team World Championship, a finish in the top eight will secure a place in the HSBC SVNS World Championship. A bottom third finish will relegate teams to SVNS 2.

Pablo Feijoo, Germany Men’s Sevens head coach, said: “We are, of course, still among the underdogs in this competition because we have virtually no experience at this level. The pace we’re facing will likely be on a completely different level, and we need to adapt to that quickly.

“Above all, it will be a very good experience for us as a team and for the players themselves to compete against teams at this high level and see how far we’ve come and what we need to work on in the coming year. This is extremely valuable for our development towards the next level.”

Germany will miss a series of their most-experienced players. The South America leg of SVNS 2 was brutal for the Europeans, who finished the São Paulo event with just seven fit players.

The side have plenty of players missing, including their captain, Tim Lichtenberg, Jakob Dipper and Daniel Eneke, who are all injured.

“Of course, we will miss those players who performed very well in the SVNS 2 recently,” Feijoo said. “But we also have players who are capable of playing an important role.

“The team will be well-prepared and ready in Hong Kong. I think it’s a shame for the guys who have worked so hard for this and deserved to be rewarded with these tournaments. But that’s just how sports sometimes are.”

Germany Men’s Sevens squad for Hong Kong

Cedric Eichholz
Bennet Veil
Chris Umeh
Maximilian Heid
Makonnen Amekuedi
Philip Gleitze
Anton Gleitze
Niklas Koch
Felix Hufnagel
Jan Lammers
Henry Smeed
Bela Sindermann
Ben Ellermann