Romanian national rugby union team

Romania

Nickname (s)	Stejarii
Association	Federaţia Română de Rugby
Trainer	Andy Robinson
captain	Mihai Macovei
WR abbreviation	ROME
WR rank	19. (66.33 points) (as of February 4, 2020)
home Away
Most international matches Florin Vlaicu (120)
Most points scored Florin Vlaicu (951)
Most attempts scored Cătălin Fercu (33)
First international match Romania 0:21 USA (July 1, 1919)
Biggest win Bulgaria 0-100 Romania (September 21, 1976)
Biggest defeat England 134-0 Romania (November 17, 2001)
World Championship participations: 8 Best result: a victory in the preliminary round 1987, 1991, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2015

The Romanian national rugby union team represents Romania in the sport of rugby union . It is called Stejarii ("the oaks") and belongs to the second class of strength ( second tier ). This makes the Romanian national team one of the strongest European teams outside of the Six Nations . So far, the selection has participated in all world championships and was able to win one game in the preliminary round in six events. In addition to participating in world championships, the three titles at the European championships are among the Romanians' greatest successes. During their heyday in the 1980s, they managed to beat rugby greats like France , Wales and Scotland .

history

Beginnings

Romania's rugby history began in the early 20th century when students brought the sport with them from France . In 1919 the national team played their first international match against the USA . Along with the United States and France, they were among the three nations that competed in the 1924 Olympic Games . Due to two clear defeats, Romania stayed in third place and thus the bronze medal. In 1931 the national rugby federation Federaţia Română de Rugby was founded.

Construction work

After the Second World War , French coaches were hired to build a functioning system around the sport of rugby. Among other things, they trained local coaches, which led to the national team playing very successfully in the decades that followed. From the 1960s on, she played against major rugby nations from Europe such as France. In 1976 the Romanians even traveled to New Zealand to play against the All Blacks . Romania developed its own style over the decades, which was mainly characterized by strong strikers and crush . In 1979, the Eastern Europeans finally established themselves when they narrowly missed a win against Wales. The Welsh was only able to score the decisive jump to 13:12 shortly before the end . A year later, they beat France 15-0 in Bucharest .

Establishment in Europe

In the 1980s, Wales and Scotland, among others, traveled to Romania to play international matches. Both teams could be defeated. The first away win at one of the Five Nations came in 1988. In Cardiff , Romania beat Wales 15: 9. In addition to the victories against France, Scotland and Wales, the defeat against the New Zealanders in 1981 was one of the greatest successes of that time. The Romanians lost 14: 6, but two attempts were denied. Despite these good results, Romania was never part of a larger competition such as the Five Nations.

In the first World Cup in 1987 in New Zealand and Australia , however, the Romanians took part and won a game. You could beat Zimbabwe 21:20, but the other two group games against France and Scotland were lost. So you missed the quarter-finals and were eliminated in the preliminary round.

End of the cold war

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union , the financial resources for the two most important teams in Romania, Dinamo and Steaua Bucharest , were suddenly lost. These two teams had been formed by the police and the army respectively , which no longer existed in this form. In addition, numerous players were killed in the Romanian Revolution in 1989 . At first, however, the national team remained successful. In 1990 they beat France away from home and defeated Scotland again the following year. At the 1991 World Cup , as in the previous World Cup, another victory was achieved. In the final group game, after defeats against France and Canada , Fiji could be defeated with 17:15.

At the 1995 World Cup , Romania couldn't win a game. Again they met Canada, as well as hosts South Africa and Australia . The Romanians had the best chance of winning against South Africa, but ultimately failed with 8:21 at the eventual world champions.

With the professionalization of rugby sport in the 1990s, the successful era of the Romanian national team also ended. Since the financially weak association could not create its own high-class league, the best players in the country moved to France and Italy . The number of active players fell rapidly, only a few made the jump to Western Europe and asserted themselves in the best leagues. Numerous Romanian clubs disbanded, the remaining ones could not even come close to keeping up financially with the western competition.

2000s

Game against Scotland 2006

In 2000 Romania won the European Nations Cup by four wins in four games. In the following years, however, the competition in this competition grew as the Georgians got stronger and stronger and were able to defeat the Romanians. In 2001 it became clear that the gap between the big rugby nations and Romania had widened significantly. In an international match against England , the national team lost 134-0, the highest defeat in the history of the association. However, the best Romanian players were not there, as they were supposed to receive very little payment from their clubs during the international matches.

In 2002, the French coach Bernard Charreyre was engaged , who brought the team back on the road to success. She won the European Nations Cup that year and qualified for the World Cup in Australia . Another victory was achieved at this tournament. In the final group game, after three defeats against Australia, Ireland and Argentina , Namibia was beaten 37-7. The association's officials were not satisfied with the team's performance and dismissed Charreyre after the tournament. After him, three other French coaches were signed: Phillipe Sauton , Robert Antonin and Daniel Santamans , who was under contract until 2007.

After defeating Italy in 2004, the Romanians were placed in second class by the IRB and replaced Russia in the Super Powers Cup . In this competition, the team had to be content with the last place, as numerous professionals from France could not be there. Despite various setbacks, Romania qualified again for the World Cup . They had no chance against Scotland and New Zealand, and only just lost against Italy. Against the opponent from Portugal known from the European Nations Cup , the only victory of this World Cup was achieved. After the World Cup, the association dismissed coach Santamans and signed New Zealander Ellis Meachen . Meachen was dismissed in March 2009 after Romania was only fourth in the table after two defeats in the European Nations Cup and thus outside the ranks that qualified for qualification for the 2011 World Cup . When the new coach, the Frenchman Serge Lairle , refused a contract extension for lower salaries in May 2010, the team consisting of the New Zealander Steve McDowell and the Romanian Romeo Gontineac was entrusted with the coaching task. At the World Cup in New Zealand, however, no play and no bonus point was in the group B recovered. At the 2015 World Cup , Romania won the preliminary round match against Canada, but had little chance against the other group opponents France, Ireland and Italy.

successes

• Olympic Games : 1924 bronze
• Rugby Union European Championship winners: 1968/69, 1974/75, 1976/77, 1980/81, 1982/83, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017

International matches

As of February 14, 2009

country	Games	Won	Lost	draw
Argentina	8th	0	8th	0
Australia	3	0	3	0
Belgium	6th	6th	0	0
Bulgaria	3	3	0	0
GDR	13	12	0	1
Germany	22nd	17th	5	0
England	5	0	5	0
Fiji	3	1	2	0
France	51	8th	41	2
Georgia	20th	9	10	1
Ireland	9	0	9	0
Italy	42	16	23	3
Japan	6th	1	5	0
Canada	8th	6th	2	0
Morocco	10	9	1	0
Namibia	6th	5	1	0
Netherlands	8th	7th	0	1
New Zealand	2	0	2	0
Poland	22nd	20th	2	0
Portugal	23	20th	3	0
Russia	20th	14th	5	1
Samoa	1	1	0	0
Scotland	13	2	11	0
Serbia	1	1	0	0
Zimbabwe	4th	4th	0	0
Soviet Union	22nd	18th	3	1
Spain	34	31	3	0
South Africa	1	0	1	0
Tonga	3	1	2	0
Tunisia	6th	5	1	0
Czech Republic	27	26th	0	1
Ukraine	7th	7th	0	0
Uruguay	9	7th	1	1
United States	9	2	7th	0
Wales	8th	2	6th	0
Total	436	260	164	12

Results at world championships

year	result	Games	Victories	Unent.	Ndlg.	+/-	Points
1987	Preliminary round	3	1	0	2	61: 130	2
1991	Preliminary round	3	1	0	2	31:64	5
1995	Preliminary round	3	0	0	3	14:97	3
1999	Preliminary round	3	1	0	2	50: 126	2
2003	Preliminary round	4th	1	0	3	65: 192	5
2007	Preliminary round	4th	1	0	3	40: 161	5
2011	Preliminary round	4th	0	0	4th	44: 169	0
2015	Preliminary round	4th	1	0	3	60: 129	4th
2019	not qualified

Known players

• Petru Bălan
• Gabriel Brezoianu
• Hari Dumitraş
• Romeo Gontineac
• Adrian Lungu
• Valentin Maftei
• Alexandru Manta
• Razvan Mavrodin
• Viorel Morariu
• Florică Murariu
• Mircea Paraschiv
• Adrien Petrache
• Cristian Petre
• Sorin Socol
• Marius Tincu
• Ovidiu Tonița

Individual evidence

1. ^ World Rugby Rankings. world.rugby, February 4, 2020, accessed November 26, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Roumanie: remercie Meachen. (No longer available online.) Rugbyrama, March 16, 2009, archived from the original March 18, 2009 ; Retrieved March 17, 2009 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ONLINESPORT.ro from May 19, 2010 ( Memento of the original from May 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on November 21, 2010 (Romanian) 

Web links

Commons : Romanian National Rugby Union Team  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website (Romanian)
• News ( Memento from October 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• International match statistics at RugbyData