It wasn't as convincing as it could, and probably should, have been but Germany had enough power to pull clear of Belgium and record their second Rugby Europe Championship victory of the campaign on Saturday.

After racing into a three-try lead shortly after half-time, Germany were in cruise control in Offenbach but Belgium responded valiantly to give the hosts a real scare in front of 4,127 fans.

Searching for their first win of the competition, the Black Devils gave themselves a fighting chance of pulling off an improbable comeback but were left with too much to do after taking the best part of an hour to settle. 

In the end, the visitors had to be happy with a losing bonus point as fly-half Alan Williams knocked over a penalty from 45 metres out in the final act of a pulsating game played with the iconic Webb Ellis Cup in attendance.

"We are trying to take the positives out of it and taking a bonus point is satisfying," Belgium coach Guillaume Ajac said afterwards. 

"It's a very short tournament, we always have to have the ambition to win every game so it's a bit frustrating to lose by such a thin margin. What's also good to see is we're very close to the level of play of the top nations [in the competition]."

Mission accomplished

For Germany, there was a palpable sense of relief at full-time as they showed resolve to get over the line and leave with four important points on the road to Japan.

The result moves them up to third in the standings with eight points after three outings. Georgia - who have already qualified for Rugby World Cup 2019 - are the early pace setters with Romania in second. 

"I'm not happy with the performance but very happy with the end result," Germany coach Kobus Potgieter reflected. "I'm very, very happy that we won but we never spoke about bonus points as our only aim was to win the game.

"We set ourselves a goal of winning two home games and we've already done that with one remaining. The guys showed some grit out there and I'd rather we win like that than have it easy and go into the next game with complacency."

Germany came out of the blocks quickly and with plenty of intensity, no doubt determined to right the wrongs of their defeat in Georgia last time out. 

Thrilling finale

First-half tries from the impressive Otto Jacobus and number eight Jarrid Els handed Potgieter's side the perfect start and when captain Sean Armstrong crossed after the break, the result appeared to be a foregone conclusion.

But Belgium came out of their shells and hit back with two tries of their own through Williams and replacement James Pearce.

The complexion of the game had changed in the space of 10 minutes and suddenly the momentum had swung in Belgium's favour. Williams struck another penalty sweetly to reduce the deficit further and make it 27-21 with 15 minutes left on the clock.

The next score was always going to be crucial and it went Germany's way as Raynor Parkinson's up-and-under caused chaos in the Belgian defensive line and Murphy was on hand to latch onto the loose ball and dive over in the corner.

Parkinson was then sent to the sin-bin for the final few minutes to open the door again for Belgium and a third try, this time created and scored by the forwards, ensured a thrilling finale but Germany had enough of a cushion to secure the points.

Their next assignment comes against Spain in Cologne on 11 March, while Belgium host Romania.

Click HERE Join the Front Row to be the first to receive all the latest news and ticketing updates for Rugby World Cup 2019.