Netherlands national rugby union team

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

The Netherlands national rugby union team,^[1] nicknamed The Oranges (Oranje), is considered one of the stronger tier three teams in European rugby. They currently compete 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.

Netherlands

Nickname	Oranje (The Oranges)
Union	Dutch Rugby Union
Head coach	Lyn Jones
Captain	Dirk Danen
Most caps	Marc Visser (67)
Home stadium	NRCA Stadium
First colours Second colours
World Rugby ranking
Current	27 (as of 16 November 2024)
Highest	23 (2018)
Lowest	48 (2008)
First international
Netherlands 0–6 Belgium  (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 1 July 1930)
Biggest win
Netherlands 76–0 Switzerland  (Hilversum, Netherlands; 6 October 1973)
Biggest defeat
England 110–0 Netherlands  (Huddersfield, England; 14 November 1998)
Website	www.rugby.nl

History

Main article: Rugby union in the Netherlands

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.

Record

Men's World Rugby Rankings

• v
• t
• e

Top 30 as of 24 February 2025^[2]

Rank	Change[i]	Team	Points
1		South Africa	092.78
2		Ireland	091.36
3		New Zealand	090.36
4		France	087.86
5		Argentina	084.97
6		England	084.26
7		Scotland	082.36
8		Australia	081.52
9		Fiji	080.07
10		Italy	078.00
11		Georgia	074.69
12		Wales	073.75
13		Japan	072.95
14		Samoa	072.68
15	1	Portugal	070.04
16	1	United States	070.02
17		Uruguay	067.06
18		Spain	065.60
19		Tonga	065.46
20		Romania	062.76
21		Chile	061.72
22		Hong Kong	059.49
23		Canada	059.18
24		Netherlands	059.16
25		Namibia	057.87
26		Zimbabwe	057.16
27	2	Belgium	057.10
28	1	Brazil	056.53
29	2	Switzerland	054.98
30		Sweden	054.10

1. Change from the previous week

Netherlands's historical rankings

See or edit source data.

Source: World Rugby^[2]
Graph updated to 17 February 2025

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%
Georgia	8	1	0	7	107	355	–248	12.5%
Germany	18	10	0	8	342	290	+52	55.56%
Hong Kong	2	1	1	0	25	10	+15	50%
England	1	0	0	1	0	110	–110	0%
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%
Serbia and Montenegro	6	4	0	2	93	40	+53	66.67%
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%
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: Dick Muir (as of 2 June 2022)

• 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	(2000-10-18) 18 October 2000 (age 24)	16	DIOK *
Mark Darlington	Hooker	(1985-05-23) 23 May 1985 (age 39)	23	Maidenhead
Lars Linnenbank	Hooker	(1997-11-28) 28 November 1997 (age 27)	1	Dukes *
Mike Mbaud	Hooker	(1999-12-14) 14 December 1999 (age 25)	3	Ealing Trailfinders
David Anderson	Prop	(1995-08-04) 4 August 1995 (age 29)	1	Haagsche
Lodi Buijs	Prop	(2000-10-19) 19 October 2000 (age 24)	10	Haagsche *
Andrew Darlington	Prop	(1989-01-06) 6 January 1989 (age 36)	26	Beaune
Kieran Hogg	Prop	(1999-12-27) 27 December 1999 (age 25)	6	Unattached
Hugo Langelaan	Prop	(1990-03-27) 27 March 1990 (age 34)	31	Eemland *
Robin Moenen	Prop	(1995-11-28) 28 November 1995 (age 29)	12	DIOK *
Mink Scharink	Prop	(2000-07-12) 12 July 2000 (age 24)	0	Saracens
Jake Stamenković	Prop	(1999-10-03) 3 October 1999 (age 25)	4	DIOK
Koen Bloemen	Lock	(1998-05-13) 13 May 1998 (age 26)	7	Bourg-en-Bresse
Jim Boelrijk	Lock	(1994-02-06) 6 February 1994 (age 31)	10	‘t Gooi *
Louis Bruinsma	Lock	(2000-07-15) 15 July 2000 (age 24)	2	Stade Montois
Dennis van Dijken	Lock	(1999-08-25) 25 August 1999 (age 25)	1	Graulhet
Marijn Huis	Lock	(1999-11-28) 28 November 1999 (age 25)	3	Durham University
Christopher van Leeuwen	Lock	(1995-04-26) 26 April 1995 (age 29)	2	Suresnes
Jade Plane	Lock	(2001-02-18) 18 February 2001 (age 24)	0	Oyonnax
Dirk Danen	Back row	(1989-04-21) 21 April 1989 (age 35)	31	Hilversum *
Wolf van Dijk	Back row	(1999-12-02) 2 December 1999 (age 25)	10	DIOK
Guy van den Dries	Back row	(1993-09-28) 28 September 1993 (age 31)	1	Belsize Park
Dave Koelman	Back row	(2001-01-16) 16 January 2001 (age 24)	2	Castricum
Kevin Krieger	Back row	(1998-09-11) 11 September 1998 (age 26)	12	Haagsche
Blake Nightingale	Back row	(1992-05-02) 2 May 1992 (age 32)	10	‘t Gooi *
Christopher Raymond	Back row	(2000-12-16) 16 December 2000 (age 24)	2	Haarlem *
Liam Stone	Back row	(2000-10-01) 1 October 2000 (age 24)	0	Coventry
Niels van de Ven	Back row	(1992-04-20) 20 April 1992 (age 32)	5	Alcobendas
Maxou Zerdoun	Back row	(2000-10-13) 13 October 2000 (age 24)	1	Haagsche *
Mark Coebergh	Scrum-half	(1998-03-27) 27 March 1998 (age 26)	1	‘t Gooi *
Caleb Korteweg	Scrum-half	(1997-01-01) 1 January 1997 (age 28)	0	Stirling County
Hugo Schöller	Scrum-half	(1999-03-11) 11 March 1999 (age 25)	6	Coq Léguevinois
Jasey van Kampen	Fly-half	(1998-07-11) 11 July 1998 (age 26)	6	Haagsche
Marc Mistou	Fly-half	(1998-09-28) 28 September 1998 (age 26)	2	‘t Gooi *
Mees van Oord	Fly-half	(1999-04-27) 27 April 1999 (age 25)	9	DIOK *
Reinhardt Fortuin	Fly-half	(1996-01-30) 30 January 1996 (age 29)	2	Cheetahs
Willie du Plessis	Fly-half	(1990-06-05) 5 June 1990 (age 34)	0	Stade Montois
Storm Carroll	Centre	(1984-11-13) 13 November 1984 (age 40)	27	Haarlem
Jules Godfroy	Centre	(1997-01-14) 14 January 1997 (age 28)	0	Corrèze
Tyren Kroos	Centre	(2000-02-14) 14 February 2000 (age 25)	0	Agen
Daily Limmen	Centre	(2001-06-22) 22 June 2001 (age 23)	4	Castricum *
Oliva Sialau	Centre	(1994-03-01) 1 March 1994 (age 30)	3	Dukes *
David Weersma	Centre	(1996-04-09) 9 April 1996 (age 28)	15	Aparejadores
Daan van der Avoird	Wing	(2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 24)	4	DIOK *
Jort Doornenbal	Wing	(2000-08-03) 3 August 2000 (age 24)	1	Castricum *
Jordy Hop	Wing	(1994-08-16) 16 August 1994 (age 30)	8	Haagsche
Reinier Pieters	Wing	(1996-11-28) 28 November 1996 (age 28)	3	Servette **
Bart Wierenga	Wing	(1999-08-26) 26 August 1999 (age 25)	4	Valence Romans
Te Hauora Campbell	Fullback	(2000-06-29) 29 June 2000 (age 24)	6	‘t Gooi *
Peter Lydon	Fullback	(1992-10-19) 19 October 1992 (age 32)	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.^[5]

Current coaching staff

The current coaching staff of the Netherlands national team:^[6]

Name	Nationality	Role
Lyn Jones	WAL	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–present	Lyn Jones

See also

• Rugby union in the Netherlands
• Dutch Rugby Union
• Netherlands women's national rugby union team
• Netherlands national under-20 rugby union team
• Netherlands national rugby sevens team
• Netherlands women's national rugby sevens team
• Sport in Netherlands

References

1. (Dutch: Nederlands nationaal rugby team)
2. "Men's World Rankings". World Rugby. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
3. Netherlands`s squad for the 2022 Rugby Europe Championship
4. "Trainingsselectie Championship 2022 bekend". 22 January 2022.
5. "Nederland speelt tegen regerend kampioen Georgië". 10 February 2022.
6. "Netherlands National Rugby Union Team Coaching Staff". www.rugby.nl. Dutch Rugby Union.

External links

• Dutch Rugby Union - Official Site (in Dutch)