Romanian Rugby

[dragos03]

Yes, these were the quarter finals. The major difference from last week's match seems to have been the state of the pitch. It was awful in the previous weekend, a pool of mud, but the weather has improved and the pitch was good today. I assume the bad pitch favoured Timisoara, who used some very powerful forwards despite the depleted squad (Aholelei, Pungea, Dreanceanu, Lazar, Morrisson, etc).

The local press claims Timisoara was "fearful" and their Argentine fly half missed a number of kicks.

It's crazy that CSM has won only two matches the entire season, but both were against Timisoara! The only other defeat of the champions was at Baia Mare.

The semifinal will be tricky for Steaua, due to their historical rivalry Dinamo always gives 150% against them.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

That is a terrible result for Iasi. Please tell me Plai was not playing due to being called up to play Uruguay?

 

[dragos03]

I don't think it's a terrible result, it was normal given the situation at Iasi.

Plai did play but they were so depleted due to injuries and unavailable foreign players that they couldn't have a full bench and the match ended with simulated scrums after a Iasi prop got injured and there was no replacement. If Iasi made it to the semifinals, they might have been unable to name a complete starting front row. Their rugby season ends here, let's see if they can keep their squad together until the restart of the Superliga, many of their players have offers from better clubs.

Dinamo is a conventional yet solid team, they don't play attractive rugby but have an effective forward play, it allows them to win every time against clubs that are weaker upfront. They were surely motivated by the prospect of a semifinal against eternal rivals Steaua.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Thanks. That explains it. Iasi had been gradually improving away from home so even though Dinamo are solid I was expecting a tighter contest.

 

[dragos03]

Romania vs Canada highlights:

 

[amz]

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/team-of-the-week-november-tests-6/

Fercu in the team of the week!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

A nice bit of recognition. None of the Tier 1 fullbacks excelled this weekend in my opinion, so why not?

 

[dragos03]

To be honest, Fercu has found his lost form, he was excellent in both matches.

 

[dragos03]

FRR president Harry Dumitras just said on TV that the Oaks will travel to Japan, Canada and either USA or Uruguay next summer.

 

[dragos03]

King's Cup results:
Baia Mare - CSM Bucharest 48-20
Steaua - Dinamo 30-27 (as always, this was a heated derby, Boldor was awesome scoring two tries and creating a third)
U Cluj - Poli Iasi 5-0 (match forfeited after an injury left Iasi without enough players)

Baia Mare and Steaua will play the final in Bucharest next weekend.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Good to hear about Boldor. Samoa gave a debut start to their 19yo fly half this weekend. So maybe Boldor will get a chance in the ENC if Howells doesn't fancy Plai. Steaua will have their internationals back for the final?

 

[dragos03]

Both Steaua and Baia Mare will have their internationals back for the final. I think Baia Mare is the slight favourite to win the trophy.

I don't think Boldor is ready for the national team yet and Vlaicu actually played really well at fly half this November. However, Howells does like to select young players when he sees potential, like he did with Popa, so it's not impossible. But since the ENC matches count for RWC qualification, I don't think the Welshman will make any further experiments. He tried players all year in order to build a core group for the ENC and he'll probably go with them, Boldor will have his chance in the summer or autumn.

One thing I like about Howells is that he gives everyone a chance: younger or elder players, locals or foreigners, all the guys that played well received at least one chance to play for the Oaks and prove themselves.

Don't forget that Plai did get a chance as well, he played for Romania A this year and was called twice in the extended national team even if he didn't play at all.

 

[amz]

Haven't watched any game, I traveled but looks like Boldor was on fire today

Steaua - Baia Mare should be a good one, I actually think Steaua is favorite not Baia Mare. Final will be on Arcul de Triumf?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I was assuming since the last ENC showed some experimental selections for Romania that the next one would be the same, but yes it is the last chance for ranking points. I'm just a little concerned Vlaicu and Rose will both be 33 years old at the next RWC. Are there any other credible options at fly half? Will definitely try to catch the Kings Cup final if there is a stream. Go Steaua!

 

[amz]

33 is not much and Vlaicu is a known to take care of him as an athlete, he may be a big fat for his position but he doesn't smoke or drink or stuff like this so I think he'll be OK. He's a professional type. Don't know much about Rose.

After next year ENC there are still two years to try solutions but next one is important for qualification and Russia or Spain are strong opponents so I don't expect much experiments.

Btw, I was impressed with Samoan fly-half as well, didn't knew he's so young and I was surprised I didn't noticed him earlier, he pretty much won the game for Samoa.

 

[dragos03]

I was assuming since the last ENC showed some experimental selections for Romania that the next one would be the same, but yes it is the last chance for ranking points. I'm just a little concerned Vlaicu and Rose will both be 33 years old at the next RWC. Are there any other credible options at fly half? Will definitely try to catch the Kings Cup final if there is a stream. Go Steaua!

The ENC is not about ranking points, but it will count for the RWC qualification. Unlike Georgia, Romania is not yet qualified and the matches against Russia, Spain etc will have to be treated very seriously.

I bet Vlaicu will play in 2019, not sure about Rose who can be injury-prone and looks quite unfit. Boldor, Plai or Melniciuc are our best options for the future.

The final will surely be streamed as usual by rugbytv.ro.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

This will be the first time I follow the RWC qualifying process - I know nothing about it. From Wikipedia below it should mean as long as you finish no worse than second best out of yourself, Russia, Germany and Spain you will keep your qualification chance alive, but if two of those teams finish higher than you, you are eliminated?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Rugby_World_Cup_qualifying

If so, it helps me understand Howells picking his strongest sides in all three matches. Despite your improvement I'd consider away to Germany (improving) and Russia (underperforming but dangerous) and home to Georgia and Spain all as competitive fixtures, possibly all on a par in terms of difficulty with your autumn tests. There can be no experimentation. Very high stakes.

 

[dragos03]

Georgia is already qualified so the results against them don't matter for qualification, I expect all the other teams to use weakened lineups vs Georgia.

The key matches are away vs Russia and home vs Spain. Russia is well-known for all sorts of dirty tricks, last time we played there Lynn Howells was denied visa, as well as several key players. They also changed the venue in the last moment, claiming the pitch was bad (actually a tactic meant to force us to travel hundreds of kilometeres by bus right before the match). As for Spain, they are able to call up basically an entire squad of French professional players.

Romania's goal is to finish on top and qualify directly. Finishing second offers a very long and difficult qualifying route, ending with a match vs Tonga.

 

[dragos03]

Steaua vs Dinamo Highlights (King's Cup semifinal):
[video]https://www.facebook.com/rugbyromania/videos/10154782374958270/[/video]

 

[amz]

Some very weak tackles there, from highlights an average game from both sides. True, Steaua missed many players due to test vs Uruguay but still...
Funny, Boldor was mentioned in rugby.ro chronic of the match as being one of the best defender in the field yet at one try he was missing a tackle that it could have been made ...