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): Rau Te Rawhiti Harrington, William JOHNSTON, Jonathan Van kleij (Amsterdam Cobras), Rick BAATS, Tim VAN DEN BERG, Bert KUYPERS (Brabant Bears), Shaden Lavia, Bjorn Van der school (Rotterdam Pitbulls), Daniel Elbertsen, Kevin ELLENBROEK, Dimitri HARINGA, PAUL KUIJPERS, Mike PRINS, Miquel RAVEN, Sebastiaan Schoemaker, Arie Razoux-Schultz, Sylvan VONKEN, Anne Willem Vos, Thije Wilbenga (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)