Teams gearing up for Round 2 of the Men's Rugby Europe Championship 2026

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It is fitting that Germany kick-off round two of action in the Rugby Europe Championship this weekend after their excellent performance in round one.

Last Sunday at home they defeated Romania 30-24 and now they are looking for another big scalp when another Rugby World Cup 2027 qualifier, Portugal, visit.

The match against Romania was played in Heidelberg while this Pool B clash will be at the Paul Greifzu Stadium in Dessau at 1pm local time (12pm UTC) on Saturday.

Germany head coach Mark Kuhlmann said: “Of course, we're taking the euphoria and experience from the match against Romania with us into this week, but fundamentally nothing has changed in terms of our goals for this season: we're still focused on staying in the Championship.

“And, of course, we're clear underdogs against Portugal too. We did a few things really well against Romania, but of course not everything went smoothly so for us it is about continuing to improve as a group.”

Germany went up from 35 in the world rankings to 31 after beating Romania, but Portugal are up to 19 from 20 after their round one bonus point 47-17 away win in Belgium last Saturday night.

As Kuhlmann mentioned, Portugal will still be the favourites here and when these two sides met in pool play last year they won 56-14.

Second-row José Madeira from Portugal said: “Our mindset remains unchanged, we will approach each game one at a time. As we have already seen, anything can happen in this competition.

“Germany are an ambitious team and in order to overcome them we will have to impose our style of play and stay true to our DNA.

“We know it is an away game which adds to the challenge. We will face a motivated Germany side that will certainly try to disrupt our game. It will be up to us to impose our identity and make our ideas prevail in order to secure the win.”

Match number two of round two sees Spain and Switzerland meet in Pool A at the Estadio Nueva Balastera in Palencia at 8pm local time (7pm UTC).

Spain go into this one after a 51-33 triumph away to the Netherlands in round one while Switzerland lost out 54-3 to defending champions Georgia at home.

Last year Spain won 43-13 in pool play in Switzerland and they are World Cup bound next year, but Germany’s win last week will have given the Swiss team hope that upsets are out there to be had.

Switzerland vice-captain Samuel Sjoberg said: “The build-up to Georgia was intense. Playing on Sunday and going straight back to work on Monday isn’t easy for a squad made up largely of amateur players and staying sharp and focused all week is a real challenge.

“But now we’re all in Spain, the focus is fully back where it belongs. We’re ready to step up and take on Spain.”

After two matches on Saturday, there are also two matches on Sunday starting with Netherlands versus Georgia at the National Rugby Center in Amsterdam at 1pm local time (noon UTC).

As mentioned, Netherlands began their Pool A campaign with a high-scoring defeat to Spain and now they are taking on another World Cup qualifier on home soil.

Georgia, as always, are the team to beat in this competition and when they were at home to Netherlands last year in pool play they were victorious 40-7.

The weekend ends in Pool B with two sides looking to get their first wins of the 2026 event.

Romania will be taking on Belgium at the Emil Alexandrescu Stadium in Iași at 7pm local time (5pm UTC).

The home side should start as favourites despite the loss to Germany last time out and when these sides clashed in pool play in 2025 the Romanians came out on top 31-14.

By Gary Heatly