| Birth name | Rudolf Finsterer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 5 May 1951 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rudolf Finsterer (born 5 May 1951)[1] 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.[2]
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.[3] He was bitterly disappointed about the relegation, considering his ten years in the position of coach of Germany wasted.[4] He was succeeded by Torsten Schippe as coach of Germany,[5] the very man he himself succeeded in 2001.[6]
Finsterer shared his duties as coach of Germany with Bruno Stolorz[7] 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.[8]
On club level, Finsterer coached the RG Heidelberg since 2002, with an interruption in the 2008-09 season.[9] 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.[10]
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.[11][12]