| Birth name | Rudolf Finsterer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1951-05-05) 5 May 1951 (age 73) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rudolf Finsterer (born 5 May 1951) is a retired German international rugby union player and coach, formerly coaching the RG Heidelberg in the Rugby-Bundesliga and, until the 20 March 2010, the German national rugby union team.
Finsterer resigned from his position of coach of Germany at the end of the country's European Nation Cup campaign, after suffering defeat in every match and relegation. He was bitterly disappointed about the relegation, considering his ten years in the position of coach of Germany wasted. He was succeeded by Torsten Schippe as coach of Germany, the very man he himself succeeded in 2001.
Finsterer shared his duties as coach of Germany with Bruno Stolorz from the RC Orléans. Stolorz was seconded to the German team by the Fédération française de rugby to improve Germany's performance in the sport.
On club level, Finsterer coached the RG Heidelberg since 2002, with an interruption in the 2008-09 season. At the end of the 2010-11 season, he retired from coaching and instead stepped into the role of a team manager with RG Heidelberg.
Finsterer lives in Mannheim and, while coach of Germany, worked under the Bundestrainer Peter Ianusevici, who holds a position of director of rugby in Germany.
Coaching honours
Club
- German rugby union championship
- Champions: 2006, 2007
- German rugby union cup
- Winner: 2004
- Runners up: 2006, 2007, 2008
National team
- European Nations Cup - Division 2
- Champions: 2008
References
- Rudolf Finsterer profile at totalrugby.de (in German) accessed: 8 March 2010
- Germany FIRA-AER website, accessed: 8 March 2010
- Rugby-Team steigt ab (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 20 March 2010
- Deutschland steigt ab / Finsterer tritt zurück Rugby-Journal, published: 20 March 2010, accessed: 20 March 2010
- Torsten Schippe wird Trainer des 15er-Nationalteams (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 11 July 2010, accessed: 26 July 2010
- 26.04.08 - der vorläufige Höhepunkt eines Abenteuers (in German) totalrugby.de, published: 17 May 2008, accessed: 26 July 2010
- Spain set down marker Archived 2010-01-18 at the Wayback Machine rugbyworldcup.com, published: 16 November 2008, accessed: 8 March 2010
- Mark Kuhlmann nicht mehr DRV-Nationaltrainer (in German) Rugby-Journal, published: 9 March 2009, accessed: 25 February 2010
- TotalRugby Wechselbörse (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 8 March 2010
- TotalRugby Wechselbörse 2011/2012 (in German) totalrugby.de, accessed: 21 August 2011
- Die Mitarbeiter des DRV Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine (in German) DRV website, accessed: 8 March 2010
- Aussie backpacker's debut victory Fox Sports, published: 27 November 2007, accessed: 5 March 2010
External links
- (in German) Rudolf Finsterer at totalrugby.de
| Germany squad – 2008-2010 European Nations Cup First Division | |
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| Forwards | |
| Backs | |
| Coach | |