Senior International Matches (Men)

Sat 12th September 2026   - KO  14:00 - Zaandijk Rugby Club, Zaandam , Netherlands
Official: Hans Verveer (Netherlands)

Netherlands

14

FT

28

Half Time
4 - 16

Germany

Tries

Rick BAATS (5)
PAUL KUIJPERS (48)
Tim VAN DEN BERG (55)

Andrew HOGGINS (9,20)
Timo SCHMIDT (34,79)
George WOOD (75)

Goals

Rick BAATS (1/3)

Bradley BILLSBOROUGH (4/5)

Sinbins

Rua te Rawhiti HARRINGTON (66)

Andrew HOGGINS (48)

Match Preview: Netherlands and Germany announce squads for Saturday's Griffin Cup Clash

Netherlands and Germany will meet for the twelfth time in a men’s senior international to contest the Griffin Cup this Saturday (12 October) at the Zaandijk rugby club, Zaandam, Netherlands (kick off 2pm, local time), for world ranking points.

The visitors will be looking to level the series which currently stands at 6-5 to the Oranje, who won the last meeting 44-18 in Hattingen in 2023, and could have as many as nine debutants representing four domestic teams – Amsterdam Cobras, Rotterdam Pitbulls, Brabant Bears and Zwolle Wolves - in their squad.

Their last outing was a defeat by Canada at home, 34-6, last month.

“We’ve put a lot of work in since the Canada game, and I genuinely believe this group is capable of putting in a performance that we can all be proud of,” said Netherlands head coach, James Adams. “We’re better prepared, know what’s expected of us and now it’s about going out there, playing with confidence and showing what we can do.

“For the players, this is also the final opportunity to show that they deserve their place on our October tour, so I want to see everyone step up, back themselves and give everything for the shirt.”.

President of Nationaler Rugby League Deutschland, Bob Doughton, commented ““We are all looking forward to the next installment of the Griffin Cup challenge and I am sure that the game will be good preparation for both teams for their upcoming European Championship matches.”  

Netherlands (squad): William JOHNSTON, Jonathan VAN KLEIJ, Rua te Rawhiti HARRINGTON (Amsterdam Cobras), Rick BAATS, Tim VAN DEN BERG, Bert KUIJPERS (Brabant Bears), Shaden LAVIA, Bjorn VAN DER SCHOOT (Rotterdam Pitbulls), Daniel ELBERTSEN, Kevin ELLENBROEK, Dimitri HARINGA, PAUL KUIJPERS, Mike PRINS, Miquel RAVEN, Sebastiaan SCHOEMAKER, Arie-Tjerk RAZOUX-SCHULTZ, Sylvan VONKEN, Anne Willem VOS, Thije WIJBENGA (Zwolle Wolves)

Germany (squad): Benedikt ESSER, Timo SCHMIDT (Bocks), Jimmy ADAMS, Bradley BILLSBOROUGH, Eoin BOWIE, Oliver BOWIE, Connor HAMPSON, Jay KAY, Conor MCMILLIEN, Shaun SMITH, George WOOD, Andrew HOGGINS (Exiles), Harry CARTWRIGHT (Panthers), Dany DOUKENG , Max KUSEL, Sebastian PAASSEN, Angus RITZ-RAHMAN, Stephen TEMPLE, Liam DOUGHTON (Ritter)

10 September 2026
1 Dimitri HARINGA
Full Back
George WOOD 1
5 Bjorn VAN DER SCHOOT
Right Wing
Benedikt ESSER 2
2 Jonathan VAN KLEIJ
Right Centre
Andrew HOGGINS 3
4 Mike PRINS
Left Centre
Sebastian PAASSEN 4
3 Thije WIJBENGA
Left Wing
Jay KAY 5
6 William JOHNSTON
Stand Off
Jimmy ADAMS 6
7 Arie-Tjerk RAZOUX-SCHULTZ
Scrum Half
Bradley BILLSBOROUGH 7
8 Shaden LAVIA
Prop
Eoin BOWIE 8
9 Rick BAATS
Hooker
Harry CARTWRIGHT 9
10 Sebastiaan SCHOEMAKER
Prop
Connor HAMPSON 19
23 Sylvan VONKEN
Second Row
Angus RITZ-RAHMAN 11
12 Rua te Rawhiti HARRINGTON
Second Row
Shaun SMITH 12
13 PAUL KUIJPERS
Loose Forward
Liam DOUGHTON 13
14 Miquel RAVEN
Int 1
Conor MCMILLIEN 14
15 Daniel ELBERTSEN
Int 2
Oliver BOWIE 15
17 Tim VAN DEN BERG
Int 3
Timo SCHMIDT 16
18 Bert KUIJPERS
Int 4
Max KUSEL 20
24 Kevin ELLENBROEK
Reserve 1
Stephen TEMPLE 18
Match Report: Germany claim Griffin Cup title after 14-28 win away against Netherlands

Germany were the 2026 Griffin Cup winners as they won the twelfth encounter against Netherlands in Zaandam 14-28. Germany’s win means that each nation now holds six titles each.

"It was a real arm-wrestle of a match up until the final stages” commented Germany Head Coach Bob Doughton. “The Netherlands team posed a constant threat. I am really proud of how we defended and kept our discipline. It highlighted some areas we need to improve on and was great preparation for our next match against Malta next month!”

Netherlands started strongly as Rick Baats opened the scoring, but was unable to further improve his score, putting the conversion wide of the posts.

Andrew Hoggins hit back for visitors, with two tries in a ten minute period to push them ahead, with Tim Schmidt also adding a score to add to Brad Bilsborough’s conversion of the first two trys give Germany a 4-16 lead at the break.

Hoggins found himself in the sin bin for a high tackle early in the second half and Paul Kuijpers immediately capitalised for the Dutch, with Baats converting.

Tim van den Berg added a further try during the sin bin period, but Baats’ missed conversion failed to level the scores.

Rua te Rawhiti Harrington found himself dispatched to the sin bin for the home side after slapping an opposition player.

Netherlands almost weathered the storm of the one-man overlap, but George Wood found his way through shortly before they were restored to thirteen players to give Germany some breathing space, with Bilsborough on target with the kick.

The final word went to Schmidt who added his second just before the final whistle, with Bilsborough also converting to seal the victory.

“The result wasn’t what we wanted, but I’m massively proud of all the boys today” added James Adams, Netherlands Head Coach.

“They improved in every single area that we identified after the Canada game. A lot of our guys were making their first or second appearance against much more experienced opponents, and I thought we showed a huge amount of character and belief throughout the game. Their experience showed in the key moments, but this was another massive step in the right direction as we work towards the Euro B fixtures.”

14 September 2026