{"id":159,"date":"2025-02-27T23:51:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T23:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/?p=159"},"modified":"2025-02-28T22:08:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T22:08:50","slug":"netherlands-remains-optimistic-about-2027-mens-rugby-world-cup-qualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/?p=159","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands Remains Optimistic About 2027 Men&#8217;s Rugby World Cup Qualification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?resize=640%2C426&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg?resize=18%2C12&amp;ssl=1 18w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>(Picture by Sarah Jane Muirhead Photography)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Netherlands Keep Rugby World Cup 2027 Hopes Alive<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This weekend promises high-stakes rugby action across <strong>Rugby Europe<\/strong>, with crucial play-off matches determining the final contenders for a spot at <strong>Rugby World Cup 2027<\/strong> in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four nations\u2014<strong>Georgia, Spain, Romania, and Portugal<\/strong>\u2014have already secured their places, leaving one final pathway open. The Netherlands will take on <strong>Germany<\/strong> in a must-win clash on <strong>Saturday<\/strong>, with the victor advancing to a <strong>fifth-place playoff<\/strong> against the winner of <strong>Belgium vs. Switzerland<\/strong>, also taking place in Belgium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Germany faces an uphill battle, having <strong>not defeated the Netherlands in 11 years<\/strong>. Playing away from home, they will need to pull off an upset to keep their World Cup hopes alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Pre-Match Thoughts<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea <strong>Felix Lemmers, Germany Captain<\/strong>: <em>&#8220;It\u2019s going to be a massive challenge for us, but we will leave everything out there on the pitch.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1 <strong>Koen Bloemen, Netherlands Player<\/strong>: <em>&#8220;This is a huge step for us. Years of hard work have led to this moment, and now we need to step up and make our World Cup dream a reality.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With everything on the line, expect a thrilling encounter as <strong>Rugby Netherlands<\/strong> fights to keep its World Cup dream alive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Netherlands Keep Rugby World Cup 2027 Hopes Alive This weekend promises high-stakes rugby action across Rugby Europe, with crucial play-off matches determining the final contenders for a spot at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. Four nations\u2014Georgia, Spain, Romania, and Portugal\u2014have already secured their places, leaving one final pathway open. The Netherlands will take on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mens-1"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/22882071-396fbb45b8b4111a2abf-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dutchrugbymag.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}