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Germany and Brazil begin their November Internationals’ campaigns on Saturday. The two sides are to meet in a one-off match in what is an emerging longterm rivalry.
The countries first faced-off in 2015. Germany toured Brazil that year playing two test matches, in Joinville and São Paulo respectively. The Central Europeans won both matches, doing so by scoreline of 28-12 and 31-07. In 2016 Germany hosted two test matches, winning them 16-6 in Heidelberg and 36-14 in Leipzig.
Germany’s impressive 4-0 return featured a superior brand of rugby being played. At the forefront was go-forward ball with the German scrum demonstrating notable superiority.
Notwithstanding Brazil’s performances in 2017 give Os Tupis reason to feel they are better prepared than ever. On the back of wins over Chile, Canada and Paraguay the Brazilians are indeed a team demonstrating marked improvement. With the top players involved in a High Performance program the athletes are also in top shape.
Both sides enter as settled line-ups. Returning for Germany from the 2016 series are a host of names. Head Coach Cobus Potgieter has the halves pairing of Sean Armstrong and Raynor Parkinson back again. Of the returning forwards Brazil will be on high alert for Sebastian Ferreira, Michael Poppmeier and Jaco Otto. Of them Otto has scored in all matches against Brazil.
Brazilian Head Coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has seven of the starters back from 2016. Changes of note see Josh Reeves and De wet van Niekerk playing as the 10-12 combination. Regular Moisés Duque will feature as a replacement.
Up front Yan Rosetti wears the captain’s arm-band. He will be joined by Lucas Abud and Caíque Silva in the front-row. The remainder of the pack is reflective of the top performers throughout the past year. Lucas Piero and Gabriel Paganini lock the scrum while Arthur Bergo, Cleber Dias and André Arruda will be the loose forwards.
With cold conditions expected the advantage that Germany has over Brazil is potentially going to be greater. In order for Brazil to make history a strong performance is mandatory. Chile, Canada and the USA have all experienced first hand what a spirited Brazil can pull off.
GERMANY
1 Jörn Schröder, 2 Dasch Barber, 3 Samy Füchsel, 4 Michael Poppmeier (co-capt.), 5 Eric Marks, 6 Sebastian Ferreira, 7 Jaco Otto, 8 Ayron Schramm, 9 Sean Armstrong (co-capt.), 10 Raynor Parkinson, 11 Pierre Mathurin, 12 Wynston Cameron-Dow, 13 Mathieu Ducau, 14 Nikolai Klewinghaus, 15 Marcel Coetzee
Replacements: 16 Gilles Valette, 17 Antony Dickinson, 18 Julius Nostadt, 19 Jarrid Els, 20 Marcel Henn, 21 Tim Menzel, 22 Jamie Murphy, 23 Steffen Liebig
BRAZIL
1 Lucas Abud, 2 Yan Rosetti (capt.), 3 Caíque Silva, 4 Lucas Piero, 5 Gabriel Paganini, 6 Arthur Bergo, 7 Cleber Dias, 8 André Arruda, 9 Douglas Rauth, 10 Josh Reeves, 11 Stefano Giantorno, 12 De Wet van Niekerk, 13 Felipe Sancery, 14 Lucas Tranquez, 15 Daniel Sancery
Replacements: 16 Endy Willian, 17 Michel Gomes, 18 Matheus Rocha, 19 Mauricio Canterle, 20 Matheus Daniel, 21 Matheus Cruz, 22 Moisés Duque, 23 Lucas Muller
Date: Saturday, November 11
Venue: Bruno Place Stadion, Leipzig
Kickoff: 15:00 local (09:00 Eastern, 12:00 Brasilia)
Referee: David Wilkinson (IRFU)
Assistants: Nigel Correll (IRFU) & Oisin Quinn (IRFU)
Broadcasts: sport1, Brazil Rugby TV, ESPN Brasil
