When Philip Snyman talks about the German national team in 7-a-side rugby, he sounds a bit like a winegrower who raves about his vines.

"Something has grown there," he says, the "core of the team" has "matured" over the years.

Now is the time to “reap the rewards”.

2022 should be a particularly good vintage in German rugby.

"The team deserves that."

Pirmin Clossé

sports editor.

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Snyman hails from South Africa, which is known to know a great deal about wine, but especially about rugby.

Until a few years ago, he himself was one of the best players in the world in the fast-paced sevens variant of this sport.

He was captain of the "Blitzböcke", the South African national team, and won the world series with them three times as well as bronze at the World Championships and the Olympics.

Since April, Snyman has been the coach of the German team together with long-time national player Clemens von Grumbkow.

Project-related initially, his contract is valid until the end of September.

The project, however, has it all: This weekend, the Germans want to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.

Participation in the tournament in mid-September in front of 60,000 fans in Cape Town would be the current highlight in the history of German rugby.

A few weeks later, Chile is about promotion to the World Series, the elite league of the national teams.

They have often tried to do this, but failed dramatically at the qualifying tournament in Hong Kong between 2016 and 2019.

A brutal defeat in the rugby temple

On a rainy July day, coach Snyman sits on the edge of a rugby field at the Olympic base in Heidelberg and recalls the first moment he saw a German team playing sevens rugby.

That was in 2009, he was a young, motivated newcomer in the South African team and Germany was a guest team at the World Series tournament in England.

The unequal duel in the London rugby temple Twickenham ended 0:70 from a German point of view.

In a seven-on-seven and only twice seven minutes playing time, the seven-man rugby, a brutal result.

“They are really building something”

Five to six years later, Snyman says, he saw the Germans again at a training competition in South Africa.

He recognized some of the faces and noticed how much the team had improved.

His insight: "They're really building something up there."

This was confirmed when he watched the team fight for promotion to the world series in the following years at the famous seven-a-side tournament in Hong Kong.

As an aside, the Germans earned a nickname there, which in the world of rugby is sort of a petty title.

A prominent TV commentator had dubbed them the “wolf pack” because, like a pack of hungry wolves on the defensive, they pounced on any attacker.

"Be part of the success story"

When Snyman was asked in spring 2022 whether he wanted to become the national coach of these Germans for the upcoming tasks, it was a "no brainer", he reports.

A decision he didn't have to think long about.

"I want to be part of the success story," he says.

Von Grumbkow, who met Snyman during his coaching training in South Africa and suggested him for the post of national coach, says: “The chances have never been as great as they are now.

We have the maturity.

We have the quality.”

"In the beginning we bought the clothes ourselves"

Like von Grumbkow, Manuel Wilhelm is one of those who helped shape the process of the seven program from the very beginning.

The former national player in classic 15-man rugby is a competitive sports board member in the German Rugby Association (DRV).

From a hobby group that meets twice a week for training, the association has formed an at least semi-professional team over the years.

“In the beginning, the boys still bought the clothes themselves.

When we received the first 150 euros in sports aid, we popped the cork,” says Wilhelm.

The DRV now has twelve sports funding agencies in the Bundeswehr.

"No Olympic team sport has developed in Germany in recent years like rugby," says Wilhelm.

"Absolutely competitive"

The professionalization is having an effect.

At the last four European Championships, the "Wolfpack" won three silver and one gold.

However, the top nations are often not at the start with their best teams.

This is different on the world series with its tournaments around the globe.

And the Germans were recently invited to this four times as a guest team.

In Malaga in January they managed, among other things, to draw against Australia.

When it comes to promotion to the top flight at the qualifying event in Chile in August, the German team will be among the favourites.

"We would like to have been at the World Series for two or three years," says Wilhelm.

"When we are there, we are absolutely competitive."

But before that, Germany wants to make history.

At the European qualifying tournament in Bucharest this Saturday and Sunday, four more World Cup tickets will be awarded.

Heavyweights like France, England and Scotland are already qualified so the opportunity is within reach.

If Germany wins its group with Georgia (Saturday, 11.30 a.m. in the live stream), Wales and Romania, a clash with the strong teams from Ireland and Spain would be impossible.

"That's the goal," says Philip Snyman.

"Otherwise we wouldn't have to compete at all.

When the bright lights come on, you must be ready to dance.” The wolf pack is ready.