2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga

The 2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga is the 45th edition of this competition and the 96th edition of the German rugby union championship. In the Rugby-Bundesliga, sixteen teams play in two regional divisions, followed by play-offs consisting of the top two teams in each division. The regular season started on 29 August 2015 and finished on 24 April 2016, followed by the semi-finals and the championship final, the latter held on 7 May 2016, with the DRV-Pokal and the promotion-relegation play-off continuing until June 2016. The season was interrupted by a winter break from early November to early March.

2015–16 Rugby-Bundesliga
Countries	Germany
Champions	TV Pforzheim (1st title)
Relegated	RU Hohen Neuendorf ASV Köln Rugby
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The defending champions were Heidelberger RK who defeated TV Pforzheim 53–27 in the 2015 final to take out its twelfth championship and sixth in a row. The club thereby also equaled a championship record, becoming the second club after TSV Victoria Linden to win six consecutive titles.^[1] The 2016 championship was won by TV Pforzheim, defeating Heidelberger RK 41–36 in the final. For Pforzheim it was the first national rugby union championship, an achievement seen as a surprise given the dominance of Heidelberg, having defeated Pforzheim in three previous finals.^[2]

The modus and size of the league had been altered from the 2014–15 season, with the number of clubs reduced from, nominally, 24 to 16.

Overview

HRC
St. Pauli

DSV 78
Germania

BRC
RK 03

RGH
HRK
SCN
TSV H

RKH

SC 1880

TV Pforzheim

Köln

Leipzig

Hohen Neuendorf

Location of teams in the Rugby-Bundesliga 2015-16

The Rugby-Bundesliga, which had been playing with 21 clubs in 2014–15, three less than the nominal strength of 24, was reduced to 16 clubs for 2015–16. The previous season, the league played a first round of four regional groups, followed by a second round with two regional groups of eight, and play-offs consisting of twelve teams, Instead, the 2015–16 season saw a reduction to just two regional groups of eight teams each.^[3][4]

In the 2015–16 Bundesliga each team plays the other seven in their division twice, home and away, during the regular season. No games will be played between clubs from opposite divisions during this phase. The regular season will be followed by play-offs in which the winner of the south-west division plays the runners-up of the north-east and the winner of the north-east the runners-up of the south-west division. The two semi-final winners then contest the German championship final, scheduled for 21 May 2016.^[3]

The remaining twelve teams enter the DRV-Pokal, whereby the clubs placed third and fourth receive a bye for the first round. The last placed team in each division will be automatically relegated to the 2. Rugby-Bundesliga. The second-last team in each division has to play the 2. Bundesliga semi-final losers for a place in the 2016–17 Rugby-Bundesliga.^[3]

Compare to the 2014–15 season no team was promoted to the Bundesliga but five teams relegated from the league, TSV Victoria Linden, SG Siemensstadt/Grizzlies, Berliner SV 92 Rugby, RC Aachen and Heidelberger TV.^[5]

Bundesliga tables

North-East

The final division table :^[6][7][8]

	Club	Played	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	BP	Points
1	RK 03 Berlin	14	14	0	0	575	116	459	13	69
2	SC Germania List	14	10	1	3	568	206	362	12	54
3	DSV 78 Hannover	14	9	2	3	449	190	259	9	49
4	Berliner Rugby Club	14	7	2	5	340	286	54	6	38
5	FC St. Pauli Rugby	14	6	0	8	255	438	-183	5	29
6	RC Leipzig	14	4	0	10	215	437	-222	4	21
7	Hamburger RC	14	2	1	11	168	320	-152	3	11
8	RU Hohen Neuendorf (R)	14	1	0	13	145	722	-577	1	5

• Hamburger RC deducted two points for breach of licensing regulations.^[9]

Club	DSV	RKB	GER	BRC	HRC	STP	RUH	RCL
DSV Hannover	—	13–29	3–22	8–8	38–10	53–6	46–12	39–5
RK 03 Berlin	30–10	—	45–19	46–5	29–12	53–0	71–8	57–3
Germania List	25–25	21–24	—	59–0	45–17	33–0	113–3	45–3
Berliner RC	21–31	0–28	30–29	—	44–14	48–12	55–0	32–5
Hamburger RC	3–23	3–19	10–18	6–6	—	12–29	30–10	13–10
FC St. Pauli	0–57	10–44	7–56	29–5	17–11	—	31–12	54–5
RU Hohen Neuendorf	0–71	6–69	17–38	14–58	17–16	17–40	—	29–31
RC Leipzig	19–33	6–31	22–45	5–28	15–11	33–20	53–0	—

South-West

The final division table:^[7][8][10]

	Club	Played	W	D	L	PF	PA	Diff	BP	Points
1	Heidelberger RK	14	14	0	0	1001	135	866	14	70
2	TV Pforzheim (C)	14	12	0	2	629	256	373	11	57
3	RG Heidelberg	14	8	1	5	423	365	58	7	41
4	SC Neuenheim	14	7	1	6	340	405	-65	6	36
5	TSV Handschuhsheim	14	6	0	8	364	481	-117	9	33
6	SC 1880 Frankfurt	14	5	2	7	238	396	-158	3	27
7	RK Heusenstamm	14	2	0	11	149	467	-318	4	12
8	ASV Köln Rugby (R)	14	0	0	14	150	789	-639	3	3

• TV Pforzheim deducted two points for breach of licensing regulations.^[9]

Club	HRK	TVP	SCN	RGH	TSV	RKH	SCF	ASV
Heidelberger RK	—	31–15	71–0	78–19	61–17	43–5	57–5	95–15
TV Pforzheim	17–41	—	35–9	64–26	83–24	27–26	50–8	90–12
SC Neuenheim	7–125	10–28	—	11–21	23–17	21–8	32–8	64–10
RG Heidelberg	18–44	24–38	23–20	—	30–12	9–6	10–10	74–7
TSV Handschuhsheim	14–71	15–63	26–29	42–40	—	33–6	29–10	59–3
RK Heusenstamm	0–96	3–52	10–47	11–25	5–44	—	12–16	24–17
SC 1880 Frankfurt	0–73	8–42	16–16	17–35	38–3	35–9	—	48–8
ASV Köln Rugby	3–115	19–25	7–51	5–69	15–29	5–24	20–22	—

Key

Table:	Championship play-offs	Relegation play-offs	Relegated
Results:	Home win	Draw	Away win

Play-off stage

Championship

The top two teams in each division qualified for the play-offs with the semi-finals held on 30 April and the final on 7 May 2016:^[11]

	Round 1				Round 2
	30 April 2016, Berlin
	RK 03 Berlin	15
					7 May 2016, Heusenstamm
	TV Pforzheim	30
					TV Pforzheim	41
	30 April 2016, Heidelberg
					Heidelberger RK	36
	Heidelberger RK	104
	SC Germania List	12

DRV-Pokal

The remaining twelve Bundesliga clubs not qualified for the championship play-off entered the DRV-Pokal, the premier rugby union cup competition in Germany. The teams placed third and fourth received a bye for the first round:^[12]

The first round will see the teams placed fifth to eighth drawn against each other:

14 May 2016

FC St. Pauli Rugby	7–44	RK Heusenstamm

15 May 2016

Hamburger RC	3–45	SC 1880 Frankfurt

14 May 2016

RC Leipzig	50–0	RU Hohen Neuendorf

14 May 2016

ASV Köln Rugby	0–67	TSV Handschuhsheim

For the quarter-finals teams were not seeded, with the clubs placed third and fourth entering the competition. The quarter finals are scheduled for 4 and 5 June, the semi-finals for 11 and 12 June and the final for 25 or 26 June:

	Quarter final					Semi final					Final
	RK Heusenstamm		25
	SC Neuenheim		38
						SC Neuenheim		29
						RG Heidelberg		13
	RG Heidelberg		34
	DSV 78 Hannover		7
											SC Neuenheim		16
											TSV Handschuhsheim		14
	SC 1880 Frankfurt		59
	RC Leipzig		7
						SC 1880 Frankfurt		10
						TSV Handschuhsheim		21
	TSV Handschuhsheim		50
	Berliner Rugby Club		3

Promotion round

The winners and runners-up of the four 2. Bundesliga divisions entered the promotion play-off to determine the two teams promoted directly and the two entering the play-off with Bundesliga seventh placed clubs. The promotion play-off will be conducted in two regional groups with the northern and eastern division clubs in one and the southern and western division ones in the other:^[11]

North-East

	Semifinals					Finals
	N1	TSV Victoria Linden	86
	E2	USV Potsdam Rugby	14
						N1	TSV Victoria Linden	59
						N2	FT Adler Kiel Rugby	15
	E1	Veltener RC	22
	N2	FT Adler Kiel Rugby	32

South-West

	Semifinals					Finals
	S1	München RFC	39
	W2	RC Aachen	29
						S1	München RFC	9
						W1	RC Luxembourg	12
	W1	RC Luxembourg	33
	S2	StuSta München	29

Promotion-Relegation round

The runners-up of the two regional promotion play-off were scheduled to compete with the seventh-placed Bundesliga teams for two more spots in the Bundesliga:

21 May 2016

FT Adler Kiel Rugby	10–43	Hamburger RC

18 June 2016

München RFC	cancelled	RK Heusenstamm

• Because the game between RFC München and RC Luxembourg had to be rescheduled because of an international played by the Luxembourg national team the final decider between München and Heusenstamm was delayed. Rescheduled a number of times it was eventually cancelled by München, Heusenstamm thereby retaining their Bundesliga place.^[13]