Romanian Rugby

[dragos03]

King's Cup Final will be played tomorrow from 14.00 local time on the Arcul de Triumf Stadium, Baia Mare vs Steaua, live on Dolce Sport and rugbytv.ro. From 11.00 local, CSM Bucharest vs Dinamo in the 3rd place playoff.

Since the King of Romania is too old and sick to attend, the trophy will be awarded by Radu Duda, the consort of Princess Margaret.

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According to the probable match squads, Steaua's coach will keep Boldor at fly half and use Vlaicu as a centre.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Ah, some enjoyable lunchtime viewing to be had as Steaua make the first leg of their double triumph this season! http://www.rugbytv.ro/

I didn't know you guys were a constitutional monarchy or that your King would literally present this cup! Who presents the main championship trophy if the King turns up for the backup competition? Hopefully this final will be Radu-cal and not a Dud-a. Ahem...

I don't think Steaua have played Boldor and Vlaicu that way around this season, so that would be an interesting development and show a degree of confidence that the coaching staff think Boldor is developing well and able to take on the more mentally demanding role in a big fixture. I'll take your word for it, but I would not be at all surprised if Vlaicu starts at 10.

How is Baia Mare's 6'4" fly half (Oprea?) doing? I've not seen them since the early weeks. I'd like to see him tried at fullback (height for catching balls), or, if he can put on muscle, at centre.

EDIT: Probably won't be able to watch this live. If someone could post the privescu link (which doesn't list the score, unlike the rugbytv.ro page) after the match it'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[dragos03]

Romania is not a monarchy but it has a living king. King Michael I was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947 and sent to live in exile. He is the last important leader of the Second World War who lives and the King's Cup is played to honour him. According to historians, the king's decision to turn against Germany in 1944 might have shortened the war in Europe by about six months.

I haven't watched Baia Mare's games and I'm not sure about Oprea, we'll see how he plays tomorrow. I think he's be more suited as a centre or winger but Baia Mare's head coach really likes big and powerful backs.

 

[amz]

I'll try to post it Bruce, no worries buddy.

LE:
it looked like they're hungover:
https://www.privesc.eu/Arhiva/71496...CSM-Bucuresti--Cupa-Regelui-2016--finala-mica

 

[dragos03]

I won't post the score but you shouldn't watch the final, it was the worst match I've seen in the last few years.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Ah, thanks guys. I won't watch a turkey of a game then. I would if it was the same sides in the Superliga final though!

They only seem to be showing the bronze final on privescu & rugbytv.ro. Maybe the final was so bad they have tried to destroy all evidence of it ever happening!

I meant to ask, what teams do in the Superliga do you guys support? I have you pegged as a long suffering Dinamo fan amz!

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10-8 and even the winning coach is saying they made "lots of mistakes"! Yeah, not too sorry to miss that. Thanks for the heads up.

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What was the main controversial decisions? Coach Petre basically says the ref was awful and Vlaicu, being a gentleman, indicates that the referee's decisions probably didn't influence the result.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.super-liga.ro%2F&edit-text=&act=url

 

[dragos03]

I don't really support a particular club, I have a soft spot for CSM Bucharest because their stadium is the closest to where I live, so I sometimes go watch the games there. CSM are the ultimate underdogs but always try to play attractive attacking rugby.

Cristi Petre did not blame the ref for the defeat either, he just said he was awful for both teams. I didn't watch the tense ending (left earlier because of the cold weather and poor quality of the match) but he did make some mistakes before that. One Baia Mare player should have been binned for a tackle in the air (he ended up being red carded after I left) and there were several fights (strangely, it was mainly the Georgian players in both teams who wanted to fight each other, I wonder how often there are mass fights in the Georgian league). Baia Mare's try was also a bit questionable.

Vlaicu missed 3 kicks, the wind was indeed very strong but I think he is the one too blame for Steaua's defeat. I agree that he was a gentleman not trying to pass the blame on the referee.

 

[amz]

They only seem to be showing the bronze final on privescu & rugbytv.ro. Maybe the final was so bad they have tried to destroy all evidence of it ever happening!

I meant to ask, what teams do in the Superliga do you guys support? I have you pegged as a long suffering Dinamo fan amz!

I think is related with Dolce's TV rights, because it wasn't on privesc.eu, just on rugbytv.ro.

About Dinamo :lol: I was never a fan of them, not even when I was kid or fan of their football team. I kind of supporter Poli Iasi this season, I like their spirit.

Club rugby in my home town (2nd division) was disbanded in late 90s and I didn't get behind any club yet.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

This underlines the issue with Superliga / Romanian rugby as mentioned by you Dragos, publicity and salesmanship. If two rugby fans like yourselves do not support a specific team. No criticism, I live near Edinburgh but don't have much affection for that club (again possibly a failure of publicity and advertising). In both the cases of Romanian and Edinburgh rugby though there are signs ignored more entertaining rugby on the horizon, which should help put bums on seats.

 

[amz]

I don't think in my case is because publicity; I used to support Steaua F.C. in 80s but not against my home town F.C. Arges. Just kind of supported them because they had chances to win the championship as opposed to my home town team. In 90s I supported fully FC Arges because got back on the first stage and was quite a good team. But I stopped to follow up football at the start of 2000s given the corruption and generally low standards of football officials who were a plague for the phenomenon and anyway I has spending more time with rugby than football.

So since there's no team in my home town and my support for Steaua was more related with European Cups, I don't really have some sort of legacy on which to build up my support for a team but I do sympathize with one or another considering their strategy and as I mentioned, this season I'm all for Poli Iasi. In my home town there's only one junior club and not a big one...I do follow them but I am going so rarely home that I hardly feel any connection with them. If for some reason I'd move to Timisoara or Baia Mare, of course I'd support the local team but so far I don't feel the need to support one team or another from Bucharest and not because of advertising but because I don't feel any strong connection with any.

LE:
Poli Iasi 3 - 16 Timisoara Saracens (played Saturday) at Iasi:
https://www.facebook.com/ArenaTVRIasi/videos/1191378767611940/

 

[dragos03]

My story is similar, I was the supporter of a football club from another town, which doesn't exist anymore (it never had a rugby team). In smaller towns, things are easy and I'd be a fan of Baia Mare or Cluj if I lived there. It's more complicated in Bucharest, I can't support Steaua or Dinamo (it would be like a betrayal of my old football club), while CSM has no real tradition.

If I had to choose a club, I would choose CSM but I'm not a true fan. They are a lot like my old football club though, losing against easy opponents and only beating the champions, against all odds.

 

[amz]

Tribute to Florin Vlaicu by an Italian site:
https://www.facebook.com/rugbybet/videos/1397596163614367/

 

[dragos03]

The test against Japan in the summer of 2017 is now official.

Romanian fans are so happy about this test, it shows the really unfair treatment that the Oaks get from World Rugby. While all other Tier 2 nations get at least one Tier 1 match per year, we haven't played one in 11 years and consider an away test vs another Tier 2 country as a big achievement.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I guess a Tier 1 test is even less likely in June than November. It'll be a brutally tough tour if it ends up being Japan, then Canada then Uruguay. Crazy travel. But Japan is about the best non Tier1 test you could get. Ranked higher than Italy on merit and with a well paid domestic league that hopefully some Romanian players will be able to impress. A lot of potential for ranking points and victory is not impossible if Japan continue to have selection issues. Fingers crossed for November 2017. The embarassing and shameful wait continues.

 

[amz]

Dumitras also mentioned at a radio show about a test vs Fiji in November 2017. With Japan in summer, it isn't bad and a win vs any of them would be a good achievement for Oaks and doable too.

I kind of feel we'll have the first T1 test at the inaugural match on new Arcul de Triumf stadium, I don't think WR will change his policy until than.

 

[dragos03]

As far as I know (from unofficial sources), it was agreed after the RWC that Romania will play an away test against Italy in 2018.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

As far as I know (from unofficial sources), it was agreed after the RWC that Romania will play an away test against Italy in 2018.

It'd be great if that happened but I could see Italy getting cold feet if there was the slightest danger of losing (which there is at the moment).

Enjoyed reading the article below and thought it sounded like it could have come from a reader of this thread. Then it saw the name of the writer and thought it probably did! Well done if that was your contribution Dragos, enthusiastic but fact based rather than fanboyish.

http://www.planetrugby.com/news/romania-on-the-rise-after-tactical-shift/

This is when you tell me every second Romanian is called Dragos!

 

[dragos03]

I'm glad you enjoyed the article.

As for the Italy match, I think they are under a lot of pressure to play a test vs us or Georgia and might consider us the safer option. I think they are wrong though, our match against them at the RWC showed they have solid forwards but are vulnerable to fast backline attacks.

 

[dragos03]

Great news, the match between Timisoara Saracens and Harlequins will be broadcasted like by www.rugbytv.ro from 15.00 Romanian time.
Quins bring a pretty strong lineup, this won't be pretty for Timisoara.

Timisoara Saracens (not yet official):
1. Eddie Aholelei
2. Eugen Capatina
3. Horatiu Pungea
4. Valentin Poparlan
5. Marian Drenceanu
6. Randall Morrison
7. Daniel Ianus
8. Stelian Burcea (c)
9. Valentin Calafeteanu
10. Jack Umaga
11. Fonovai Tangimana
12. Paula Kinikinilau
13. Brian Sefanaia
14. Stephen Shennan
15. Catalin Fercu

16. Andrei Radoi, 17. Gigi Militaru, 18. Samuel Maris, 19. Ionut Muresan, 20. Dorin Lazar, 21 Gabriel Conache, 22. Tevita Manumua, 23. Madalin Lemnaru

Harlequins:
15. Aaron Morris
14. Charlie Walker
13. Joe Marchant
12. Winston Stanley
11. Alofa Alofa
10. Ruaridh Jackson
9. Danny Care (C)

1. Joe Marler
2. Dave Ward
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. George Merrick
5. Charlie Matthews
6. George Naoupu
7. James Chisholm
8. Jack Clifford

Replacements
16. Rob Buchanan
17. Owen Evans
18. Adam Jones
19. Stan South
20. Matt Shields
21. Charlie Mulchrone
22. Tim Swiel
23. Matt Hopper

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Disappointing for Timisoara. Feared the worst with Umaga at 10. He doesn't strike me as a natural there when I've seen him.