Netherlands national rugby union team
National rugby union team
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The Netherlands national rugby union team,[1] nicknamed The Oranges (Oranje), currently competes in the second division of the Rugby Europe International Championships in the Rugby Europe Trophy, a competition which is just below the Rugby Europe Championship where the top six countries in Europe (apart from the teams in the Six Nations) compete. They are yet to participate in any Rugby World Cup.
| |||
| Nickname | Oranje (The Oranges) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Union | Dutch Rugby Union | ||
| Head coach | Bryan Easson | ||
| Captain | Koen Bloemen | ||
| Most caps | Marc Visser (67) | ||
| Home stadium | NRCA Stadium | ||
| |||
| World Rugby ranking | |||
| Current | 27 (as of 16 February 2026) | ||
| Highest | 23 (2018) | ||
| Lowest | 48 (2008) | ||
| First international | |||
 Netherlands 0–6 Belgium  (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1 July 1930) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Netherlands 76–0 Switzerland  (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 16 February 2025) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 England 110–0 Netherlands (Huddersfield, England; 14 November 1998) | |||
| Website | www.rugby.nl | ||
History
The Netherlands played their first ever game in 1930, against Belgium on 1 July. The Netherlands played Belgium and Germany as well as Romania. During the 1940s they played regularly against Belgium and Germany. The 1960s saw the side play West Germany regularly as well as other fixtures including matches against Poland, Sweden, Spain and Czechoslovakia. The 1970s saw fixtures played against many teams, notably Scotland XV in October 1978 & Italy. However, they never fully recovered from the floating turn incident.
Record
| Rank | Change[i] | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |  South Africa | 93.96 |
| 2 | |  New Zealand | 92.28 |
| 3 | |  Ireland | 88.08 |
| 4 | |  France | 87.43 |
| 5 | | England | 85.68 |
| 6 | |  Scotland | 84.78 |
| 7 | |  Argentina | 83.13 |
| 8 | |  Australia | 81.61 |
| 9 | |  Fiji | 78.00 |
| 10 |  1 |  Japan | 76.42 |
| 11 | 1 |  Wales | 76.38 |
| 12 |  2 |  Italy | 76.30 |
| 13 | |  Georgia | 73.94 |
| 14 | |  United States | 70.22 |
| 15 | |  Portugal | 69.39 |
| 16 | 2 |  Chile | 66.94 |
| 17 | 1 |  Spain | 66.83 |
| 18 | 1 |  Uruguay | 65.75 |
| 19 | 1 |  Tonga | 65.14 |
| 20 | 1 |  Samoa | 64.73 |
| 21 | 1 |  Romania | 62.45 |
| 22 | 1 | Belgium | 61.03 |
| 23 | 1 |  Hong Kong | 60.74 |
| 24 | 1 |  Canada | 60.37 |
| 25 | |  Zimbabwe | 57.68 |
| 26 | |  Namibia | 56.96 |
| 27 | | Netherlands | 56.44 |
| 28 | | Switzerland | 55.47 |
| 29 | |  Czech Republic | 54.78 |
| 30 | |  Poland | 54.54 |
- Change from the previous week
| Netherlands's historical rankings |
Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by a Netherlands national XV at test level up until 16 November 2024, updated after match with Chile.
| Opponents | Matches | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Aga | Diff | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Andorra | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 140 | 116 | +24 | 100% |
| Belgium | 45 | 20 | 4 | 21 | 475 | 539 | –64 | 44.44% |
 Bulgaria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 10 | +35 | 100% |
| Chile | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 17 | +3 | 100% |
 Croatia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 19 | +28 | 100% |
| Czech Republic | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 136 | 91 | +45 | 60% |
| Czechoslovakia | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 88 | 99 | –11 | 28.57% |
 Denmark | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 311 | 57 | +254 | 90% |
 East Germany | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 35 | –15 | 50% |
| England | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 110 | –110 | 0% |
| Georgia | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 107 | 355 | –248 | 12.5% |
 Germany | 18 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 342 | 290 | +52 | 55.56% |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 10 | +15 | 50% |
 Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 56 | 0 | +56 | 100% |
| Italy | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 27 | 178 | –151 | 0% |
| Emerging Italy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 50 | -45 | 0% |
| Japan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 100% |
 Latvia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 134 | 23 | +11 | 100% |
 Lithuania | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 90 | 34 | +56 | 66.67% |
 Malta | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 9 | +18 | 100% |
 Morocco | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 88 | 111 | –23 | 42.86% |
 Moldova | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 77 | 85 | –8 | 33.33% |
| Poland | 21 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 334 | 324 | +10 | 38.1% |
| Portugal | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 172 | 349 | –177 | 7.14% |
| Romania | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 76 | 393 | –317 | 0% |
 Russia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 47 | 243 | –169 | 0% |
| Spain | 18 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 152 | 537 | –385 | 0% |
 South Korea | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 108 | –63 | 50% |
 Sweden | 19 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 444 | 186 | +258 | 94.74% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 22 | +25 | 100% |
 Tunisia | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 86 | 53 | +33 | 80% |
 Ukraine | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 71 | 88 | –17 | 25% |
 Uganda | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | +42 | 100% |
 Yugoslavia | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 93 | 40 | +53 | 66.67% |
| West Germany | 28 | 9 | 1 | 18 | 279 | 481 | –202 | 32.14% |
| Zimbabwe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 30 | –23 | 0% |
| Total | 263 | 115 | 13 | 135 | 4158 | 5025 | –867 | 43.73% |
Current squad
On 22 January 2025, the following 49 players were called up for the 2025 Rugby Europe Championship.[3] [4]
Head Coach: Bryan Easson[5]
- Caps Updated: 23 January 2021
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ross Bennie-Coulson | Hooker | 18 October 2000 | 16 | DIOK * |
| Mark Darlington | Hooker | 23 May 1985 | 23 | Maidenhead |
| Lars Linnenbank | Hooker | 28 November 1997 | 1 | Dukes * |
| Mike Mbaud | Hooker | 14 December 1999 | 3 | Ealing Trailfinders |
| David Anderson | Prop | 4 August 1995 | 1 | Haagsche |
| Lodi Buijs | Prop | 19 October 2000 | 10 | Haagsche * |
| Andrew Darlington | Prop | 6 January 1989 | 26 | Beaune |
| Kieran Hogg | Prop | 27 December 1999 | 6 | Unattached |
| Hugo Langelaan | Prop | 27 March 1990 | 31 | Eemland * |
| Robin Moenen | Prop | 28 November 1995 | 12 | DIOK * |
| Mink Scharink | Prop | 12 July 2000 | 0 | Saracens |
| Jake Stamenković | Prop | 3 October 1999 | 4 | DIOK |
| Koen Bloemen | Lock | 13 May 1998 | 7 | Bourg-en-Bresse |
| Jim Boelrijk | Lock | 6 February 1994 | 10 | ‘t Gooi * |
| Louis Bruinsma | Lock | 15 July 2000 | 2 | Stade Montois |
| Dennis van Dijken | Lock | 25 August 1999 | 1 | Graulhet |
| Marijn Huis | Lock | 28 November 1999 | 3 | Durham University |
| Christopher van Leeuwen | Lock | 26 April 1995 | 2 | Suresnes |
| Jade Plane | Lock | 18 February 2001 | 0 | Oyonnax |
| Dirk Danen | Back row | 21 April 1989 | 31 | Hilversum * |
| Wolf van Dijk | Back row | 2 December 1999 | 10 | DIOK |
| Guy van den Dries | Back row | 28 September 1993 | 1 | Belsize Park |
| Dave Koelman | Back row | 16 January 2001 | 2 | Castricum |
| Kevin Krieger | Back row | 11 September 1998 | 12 | Haagsche |
| Blake Nightingale | Back row | 2 May 1992 | 10 | ‘t Gooi * |
| Christopher Raymond | Back row | 16 December 2000 | 2 | Haarlem * |
| Liam Stone | Back row | 1 October 2000 | 0 | Coventry |
| Niels van de Ven | Back row | 20 April 1992 | 5 | Alcobendas |
| Maxou Zerdoun | Back row | 13 October 2000 | 1 | Haagsche * |
| Mark Coebergh | Scrum-half | 27 March 1998 | 1 | ‘t Gooi * |
| Caleb Korteweg | Scrum-half | 1 January 1997 | 0 | Stirling County |
| Hugo Schöller | Scrum-half | 11 March 1999 | 6 | Coq Léguevinois |
| Marc Mistou | Fly-half | 28 September 1998 | 2 | ‘t Gooi * |
| Mees van Oord | Fly-half | 27 April 1999 | 9 | DIOK * |
| Reinhardt Fortuin | Fly-half | 30 January 1996 | 2 | Cheetahs |
| Willie du Plessis | Fly-half | 5 June 1990 | 0 | Stade Montois |
| Storm Carroll | Centre | 13 November 1984 | 27 | Haarlem |
| Jules Godfroy | Centre | 14 January 1997 | 0 | Corrèze |
| Tyren Kroos | Centre | 14 February 2000 | 0 | Agen |
| Daily Limmen | Centre | 22 June 2001 | 4 | Castricum * |
| Oliva Sialau | Centre | 1 March 1994 | 3 | Dukes * |
| David Weersma | Centre | 9 April 1996 | 15 | Aparejadores |
| Daan van der Avoird | Wing | 28 November 2000 | 4 | DIOK * |
| Jort Doornenbal | Wing | 3 August 2000 | 1 | Castricum * |
| Jordy Hop | Wing | 16 August 1994 | 8 | Haagsche |
| Reinier Pieters | Wing | 28 November 1996 | 3 | Servette ** |
| Bart Wierenga | Wing | 26 August 1999 | 4 | Valence Romans |
| Te Hauora Campbell | Fullback | 29 June 2000 | 6 | ‘t Gooi * |
| Peter Lydon | Fullback | 19 October 1992 | 0 | Rouen |
- *: Also a member of Delta squad, playing in the Rugby Europe Super Cup.
- **: Servette is a Swiss club but plays in the French league.
Call-ups
On 10 February Spike Salman of Racing 92 was called up to the squad.[6]
Current coaching staff
The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:[7]
| Name | Nationality | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Bryan Easson | SCO | Head coach |
| Gareth Gilbert | RSA | Assistant coach |
| Allard Jonkers | NED | Assistant coach |
| Emmanuel Peyrezabes | FRA | Strength and Conditioning coach |
| Antoine van den Berg | NED | Physiotherapist |
| Sebastiaan van Osch | NED | Physiotherapist |
| Kevan Gallagher | NED | Video analyst |
| Jan van Diest | NED | Manager |
Past Coaches
Since 1997
| Years | Coach |
|---|---|
| 1997–2000 | Geoff Old |
| 2001–2004 | Robbie Allen |
| 2004 | Alex O'Dowd |
| 2005–2006 | Iain Krysztofiak |
| 2007 | Eric Hangeveld |
| 2008 | Robin Raphael |
| 2009 | Hugues Dispas |
| 2009 | Robin Raphael (Caretaker) |
| 2009–2010 | Hugues Dispas |
| 2010–2011 | Jean Bidal |
| 2011 | Silvester Ramaker |
| 2011–2016 | Alex Chang |
| 2016–2019 | Gareth Gilbert |
| 2019–2022 | Zane Gardiner |
| 2022 | Dick Muir (interim) |
| 2022–2025 | Lyn Jones |
| 2025–present | Bryan Easson |