Radio Romania International Sports club

Rugby

Florin Orban, 07.02.2024, 13:45

Romania’s national rugby team has had an auspicious start early into the
international rugby season in 2024. In the first round as part of Rugby Europe Championship, Europe’s
second-tier competition, Romania’s national rugby squad grabbed a 20-8 away win
against Poland, in a fixture hosted by the Polish city of Gdynia. Romania’s Damian Strătilă, Alexandru Savin and
Tevita Manumua scored three tries in the first half. Tudor Boldor converted a
try in the second half of the game, through a penalty kick. One of Group B’s
modest teams, Poland put on a performance that was more balanced than expected.
We recall that in 2023, Romania trounced Poland, 67 to 27. In the most recent
match, sadly, Romania was unable to score the fourth try, which could have
brought the team the offensive bonus point.

It was Romania’s
first official match with the new management at the helm. The head-coach is the
French David Gérard, a former second row player, who was selected in the French
national team’s lineup. As a head-coach, in 2023 David Gerard trained the Portuguese
national squad, with very good results.

In Group B’s
other match, surprisingly enough, Belgium grabbed a 10-6 home win against
Portugal, the team that until this past Sunday ranked as favorite to winning the
group. We recall Portugal’s run in the World Cup hosted by France in autumn was
more than satisfactory, since Portugal defeated Fiji and succeeded a draw
against Georgia. It now appears all teams stand real chances to win the group.

In Group
A, Spain grabbed a 20-18 away win against the Low Countries, while Georgia defeated
Germany, 28-17, also away from home. The next rounds are schedule in the two coming
weekends. The semi-finals follow, scheduled over March 2nd and 3rd,
while the finals are to be played on March 17 in Paris. We recall in 2023, in
the Rugby Europe Championship, Romania came in 3rd, having defeated
Spain in the third-place final, 31-25, in Badajoz.

Romanian
national rugby team’s next scheduled matches will be played in Bucharest. On February
10, Romanian goes against Belgium, while on February the 17, Romania faces
Portugal. For this coming Saturday’s fixture, the national team’s technical
management has operated five changes in the line-up, as compared to the line-up
that went against Poland.