Why no German team in Rugby World Cup 2007?

Question

I don't know a whole lot about rugby union, I've just started playing it but I'm curious, why is there no team representing Germany in the Rugby World Cup this year? I know there are a lot of countries where people do actually play rugby and there's got to be Germans, so why are they along with some other nations not in it? Are there some sort of qualifying knock-out rounds like in football (soccer) ? Or is the interest level just not high enough? I find it hard to believe that the latter would be the case.

Answer 1

I can't answer any better than whats already said but if they had the interest in game that they do in other parts of Europe & the southern hemisphere  I'd say they would do pretty well.

Answer 2

Besides all that is said, the problem with Germany is American Football is pretty popular there. The Yanks from all the American military bases that sprung up there after the WWII (that is in western Germany) made it so. I know they fill a soccer stadium for some giridon games, so it is tough to compete against such established sport which appeals to pretty much the same crowd.

Answer 3

germany sucks new zealand where i come from will win the world cup

Answer 4

Germany were eliminated in the qualifying rounds for this years world cup.  They are ranked 26th in the world right now and they were close to making it to the 4th round of European qualifying.  They were tied on aggregate with Spain with only 10 minutes left in the 2nd game, but Spain scored and went on.  

They beat Serbia & Montenegro 108-0 in Heidelberg, which was the only century in all 2007 RWC qualifying.  They have slowly been moving up the rankings but are starting to enter the range of more experienced teams like Romania, Spain, Potrugal, Uruguay and Japan.  Unfortunately for them, the next world cup is likely to only have 16 teams qualifying, so they will likely miss out again in 2011.

Answer 5

Europe had 5 automatic qualifiers (England, Scotland, France, Ireland, and Wales), and then had 3.25 qualifying spots.

Germany entered qualifying in Round 2, and won their pool over Moldova, Denmark, Austria, and Luxembourg.  This took place from October, 2004 to May, 2005.

In Round 3, they won their pool again, with a perfect record against Belgium, Malta, Croatia, and Serbia.  (Played October, 2005 to April 2006).

They had a two-game playoff against the other Round 3 pool winner, Spain.  Germany won the first game 18-6 in Heidelberg (along with Hanover, one of the centers of German rugby).  In the return match, in Madrid, Spain won 36-10 to advance on aggregate.

A year ago, Spain defeated the Czech Republic to advance to Round 5, where they came last in their pool to Romania and Georgia.  

Romania and Italy were the first teams to qualify from Europe.  Georgia defeated Portugal to take the third spot.  Portugal beat Morocco and Uruguay to qualify for the World Cup.