Germany's victory in the fourth leg of the 2008 FEI Samsung Super League in Rotterdam moved them up from sixth to second on the leaderboard at the halfway stage of the series.

The Netherlands finished in runner-up spot; time faults proved costly for them on a day when the clock was particularly influential. Belgium slotted into third ahead of Great Britain in fourth, Switzerland in fifth, and Ireland in sixth. For Sweden, it was yet another difficult day, but they battled hard to avoid being last on the result sheet—that unenviable position went to the USA.

"I planned to build an exciting course, but if I had another chance I might have been one or two seconds more generous with the time," admitted Dutch course designer Louis Konickx afterwards. With 15 of the 32 starters in the first round picking up time penalties, and 11 more collecting them in round two there were a number of riders who wished he had done just that.

The pathfinders from Germany were already in control at the end of the first round, carrying just the single time penalties picked up by Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum on Checkmate and Marco Kutscher on Cornet Obolensky.

The Dutch were in hot pursuit with just five faults on the board. Britain was in third, but relied heavily on anchorman John Whitaker’s clear round with Peppermill to drop the 24 faults picked up by his niece, Ellen Whitaker.

Belgian Chef d'Equipe Lucien Somers said yesterday that his team has been inclined to be impressive in the first round, but less so in the second round. Only Dirk Demeersman and Tymoon Caloo Meerchen managed to return without penalty in round one.

The Americans carried 13 faults into the second round. Sweden carried 16, and bringing up the rear were the Swiss and Irish.

In the second round, the Irish fought back with great clears from both O'Brien and O'Connor. The Swiss also pulled themselves together, Schwizer was foot-perfect again to record one of only two double-clears of the day. The Swedes looked vulnerable as they put 16 more faults on the scoreboard, but the prospect of finishing last for the fourth time in a row was diminished by a zero score from Schultz. The Americans however continued to slide, 12 faults from both Welles and Kraut, five from Kursinski, and a pole down for Ward dropping them to last place.

The Belgians added nine more faults, but they still improved a place when the British, now down to just three team-members as Ellen Whitaker did not return to the ring, collected 18 more faults.

At the top of the scoreboard the Germans and Dutch were in a league of their own. These two sides are in constant battle for supremacy in the sport these days, and it seemed it could go either way. But when Houtzager left the second element of the tricky double on the ground, Germany's Marco Kutscher did not have to return to the ring because it was all over and victory was sealed.

This was Germany's 12th victory in Rotterdam since 1948. The show, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has staged 58 Nations Cup competitions during that time. The previous German victory was in 2002, the year before the FEI Samsung Super League series began.

The Samsung Super League series moves to Aachen next month where the excitement will continue to mount.