With a top coach and experienced “foreign” players, the Dutch rugby team wants to go to the World Cup

Dutch rugby players are doing well. With a financial injection, a top coach from Wales and new players from a variety of backgrounds, the team wants to go to the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

The job of Rugby Netherlands technical director, Kristof Vanhout, changed completely on May 29, 2021. On this day, the Dutch rugby team recorded a historic victory over Belgium, forcing promotion to the European Championship of rugby. In this competition, six European countries are fighting for qualification for the World Cup.

This set everything in motion for national rugby. Perhaps the most significant development: the Netherlands have secured a place in international rugby union World Rugby’s so-called ‘high performance programme’.

This has resulted in a substantial financial injection for Vanhout and his colleagues, with whom the sport can continue to grow and the big dream may well come true: placement for the 2027 World Cup in Australia. The 2031 World Cup in America is another slightly less ambitious goal.

Vanhout looks back over the past period. “A lot of things changed after this match against Belgium. But it was a work of several years: it started with the academies that we set up and we now see that talents are emerging.”

These talents will be coached from September 1 by an international trainer. With World League money, the rugby union managed to fish Lyn Jones, a 58-year-old Welshman with a great (coaching) career in top-flight rugby. On Friday, he was on the line for the first time in the friendly match against Canada (25-37 loss).

“I found myself in a very energetic rugby country,” said Jones, who was Russia’s national coach until last year. “There is a great plan from the association. If we all have the same chance, there’s no reason why we can’t at least get to the 2031 World Cup.”

Jones works not only with these young talents from the academies, but also with a number of experienced hands from major overseas competitions, who have Dutch roots.

These are players who narrowly missed out on top countries like South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand and now want to play for the Netherlands at a later age. Willie Du Plessis (born in South Africa), Leroy van Dam (born in New Zealand) and Peter Lydon (born in Ireland) joined the team.

According to Jones, this is a good and logical development. “These kind of guys have to come and support us. Every team now has a few players who come back from abroad to help their country. It’s no different with us.”

For Vanhout, the arrival of these players is proof that Dutch rugby is moving in the right direction. “Everyone in the rugby world is talking about us and how good things are here. People want to be part of it.”