Denmark national rugby union team

National rugby union team

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Denmark women's national rugby union team.

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|

Denmark

Nickname| Danish Lions
Union| Dansk Rugby Union
Head coach| Junaire Brown
Captain| Mikkel Andresen

First colours

World Rugby ranking
Current| 72 (as of 4 November 2024)
Highest| 71 (1 October 2022)
Lowest| 77 (29 January 2024)
First international
Denmark 0 – 6 Sweden
(1949-10-23)
Biggest win
Denmark 127 – 5 Estonia
(2018-04-28)
Biggest defeat
Denmark 7 – 104 Russia
(2000-05-13)

The Denmark national rugby union team is governed by Danish Rugby Union and has been playing international rugby since 1949.

DRU now has nearly 2,500 members in more than 30 clubs.[1]

The DRU Superliga is the highest tier of the national rugby union competition in Denmark. Most of the national team's players play in the local league, however a handful of them play in amateur clubs in England, Sweden and France. There are no professional players that play for Denmark.

The national side is ranked 75th in the world, as of 16 January 2023.[2]

## History

[edit]

Rugby Union had been played in Denmark since 1931, but the Danish Rugby Union (DRU) wasn't formed until 1950. The DRU joined the Sports Confederation of Denmark and Rugby Europe in 1971. In 1974, the DRU co-founded the Nordic Rugby Union (now Scandinavian Rugby Union), and in 1988, the DRU joined the International Rugby Board.[3]

The Danish First XV, known as Drusse, participates every year in the European Nation Tournament. In Europe, Denmark is ranked as a second-division side.

Championship tournaments determine seeding for World Cup qualifying pools. Denmark debuted in World Cup competition in October 1992, during qualification for the 1995 Rugby World Cup. They have never qualified for the World Cup, however.

## Overall Record

[edit]

Against  | Played  | Won  | Lost  | Drawn  | Win percentage

|
|
|
|
|

Andorra | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50%
Armenia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0%
Austria | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 83.33%
Belgium | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 20%
Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0%
Croatia | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0%
Czech Republic | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0%
Finland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100%
Georgia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0%
Germany | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16.67%
Hungary | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75%
Israel | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67%
Latvia | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67%
Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100%
Luxembourg | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100%
Malta | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50%
Moldova | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0%
Morocco | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0%
Netherlands | 10 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 0%
Norway | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 84.62%
Poland | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0%
Portugal | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0%
Russia | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0%
Serbia and Montenegro | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0%
Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0%
Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0%
Sweden | 49 | 10 | 36 | 3 | 20.41%
Switzerland | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 44.44%
Ukraine | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 33.33%
West Germany | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0%
Total | 150 | 48 | 93 | 9 | 32%

## Current squad

[edit]

Starting line-up for the 2023-24 Rugby Europe Conference match against Finland.

* Caps & age not updated.
* Head coach: Andreas Robertson
* Managers: Palle Andersen & Ruben Garcia Pedersen
* Assistant coaches: Chris Adby & Rich Groom
* Head Physio: August Enevoldsen

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player  | Position | Date of birth (age)  | Caps  | Club/province

|
|
|
|

Bulela Butsheke | Prop |  | 7  |  RK Speed
Marcus Borup | Hooker |  | 2  |  Chelmsford R.F.C.
Zak Underwood | Prop |  | 1  |  Hammersmith & Fulham RFC
Kenny Uddal Calmar | Lock |  | 20  |  Aarhus RK
Hamish Coventry | Lock |  | 6  |  Frederiksberg RK
Jeppe Maagaard Holm | Flanker |  | 23  |  RK Speed
Marius Fricault | Flanker |  | 2  |  RK Speed
Mikkel Andresen (c) | Number 8 |  | 19  |  Kenilworth RFC
Thorbjorn Vestergaard | Scrum-half |  | 23  |  Aarhus RK
Oliver Hvass | Fly-half |  | 4  |  RK Speed
Victor Hounou | Wing |  | 5  |  RK Speed
Joshua Jensen | Centre |  | 41  |  Swindon RFC
Simon Maagaard Holm | Centre |  | 6  |  RK Speed
Rasmus Madum | Wing |  | 7  |  Frederiksberg RK
Mads Søgaard Jørgensen | Fullback |  | 2  |  RK Speed
Ali Kamil | Prop |  | 3  |  RK Speed
Nicholas Bertelsen | Prop |  | 1  |  RK Speed
Rasmus Brofeldt | ?? |  | 1  |  RK Speed
Adam van Geyzel | ?? |  | 1  |  Aarhus RK
Nils Hagen | ?? |  | 1  |  Lugi Lions RFC
Axel Örn Petursson | Flanker |  | 4  |  CSR-Nanok
Henry Miller | ?? |  | 0  |  Frederiksberg RK
Otto Käszner | ?? |  | 4  |  Frederiksberg RK

### Recent call-ups

[edit]

The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months.

Player  | Pos  | Date of birth (age)  | Caps  | Club  | Latest call-up

|
|
|
|
|

Emil Svinth Aagaard  | Hooker |  |  |  Frederiksberg RK | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Michael Friis Larsen  | Prop |  |  |  Aalborg RK | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Federico Haedo  | Flanker |  |  |  San Isidro Club | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Dan Wiggins  | Scrum Half |  |  |  Hitchin RFC | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Ben Wiggins  | Fly Half |  |  |  Hitchin RFC | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Gerard Hounou  | Wing |  |  |  RK Speed | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023
Alexandros Mintsioulis  | Hooker |  |  |  Frederiksberg RK | v.  Andorra, 30 September 2023

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "IRB Denmark". IRB.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-31. Retrieved 2010-04-28.
2. ^ "Men's Rankings | World Rugby". Archived from the original on 2019-08-18. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
3. ^ "DRU History". DRU. Retrieved 2010-04-28.

## External links

[edit]

* Danish Rugby Union – Official Site
* Denmark Archived 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine on rugbydata.com

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