2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga
| 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga | |
|---|---|
| Countries |
 Germany
|
| Champions | Heidelberger RK (8th title) |
| Promoted | RU Hohen Neuendorf SG Siemensstadt/Grizzlies |
| Relegated | 08 Ricklingen/Wunsdorf Veltener RC USV Potsdam Rugby RC Mainz TuS 95 Düsseldorf |
| Attendance | |
|
← 2012–13
2014–15 →
|
|
The 2013–14 Rugby-Bundesliga was the 43rd edition of this competition and the 94th edition of the German rugby union championship. In the Rugby-Bundesliga, twenty-four teams played in, initially, four regional divisions, the first stage of the competition, followed by a championship round of sixteen clubs and, finally, the play-offs consisting of twelve teams. The season started on 24 August 2013 and finished with the championship final on 21 June 2014 in Pforzheim, interrupted by a winter break from 8 December to 22 February. The regular season finished on 19 April and the play-offs started on 3 May, with the German championship final held on 21 June 2014, which was contested between TV Pforzheim and Heidelberger RK. Heidelberg won its fifth consecutive national championship when it defeated Pforzheim 43–20 in the final.
The defending champions were Heidelberger RK who defeated SC Neuenheim in the 2013 final to take out its ninth championship and fourth in a row. Heidelberger RK remained unbeaten throughout the 2013–14 regular season, as it had been all throughout the 2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga season, having last lost in the Bundesliga on 1 November 2011, when HRK was beaten 26–24 by TV Pforzheim.
The league saw only minor changes compare to the previous season, playing at full strength of 24 clubs in 2013–14 instead of only 22. Promoted to the league were 08 Ricklingen/Wunstorf, TuS 95 Düsseldorf and Veltener RC while RC Luxembourg had withdrawn from the competition.
The first stage of the competition, the Vorrunde, saw four six-team groupes in which each team played the other five just once. This stage finished in late September after which the second stage started, the Qualifikationsphase, in which the top teams each from the southern and the western group play each other in one group while the top teams from the north and east play each other in another. A new addition compare to the previous season was that the fourth placed team from each division would play the fifth placed in the opposite group to determine the last two places in the second round. The six teams not qualified for the Qualifikationsphase entered the DRV-Pokal, the German rugby union cup, together with the top eight teams of the 2nd Bundesliga. The 2nd Bundesliga teams not qualified for the DRV-Pokal in turn played for the Liga Pokal.
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