RRI Sports Club
The latest news from rugby.
Florin Orban, 18.03.2026, 13:45
The rugby spring season has come to an end. France won the Six Nations Championship in dramatic fashion, and Italy won their first victory against England this year. In the second continental tier, Rugby Europe Championship, Portugal put an end to Georgia’s more than ten-year dominance.
Overall the Romanian team, managed by the French coach David Gérard, improved their performance, but the results did not unfortunately match their game. They were part of Group B, alongside Portugal, Germany and Belgium. In their first match on February 8, in Heidelberg, they lost to Germany: 24-30. In their next match, at home against Belgium, Romania won convincingly, 23-6. Despite the difficult conditions, there was already an improvement in the team’s play, which did not last, however, until their following match, away, against Portugal. The latter side prevailed, 44-7.
Romania finished second in their group and qualified for the semi-finals, where they met Georgia away. The hosts won 53 to 30, but Romania played their best match of the championship and scored three tries. They next faced Spain for the third place, in Madrid, losing 29 to 23. It should be noted, however, that, from the 17th minute onwards, Romania were without a player, after the elimination of Nicolaas Immelman. They showed strength and determination, and even led until the 60th minute, but, in the end, Spain were the better side.
Romania finished the championship in 4th place, a worse result than last year, when they won the third place, after defeating Portugal. In fact, this year, Romania only have one win to their record sheet, against Belgium. It appears that the process of rebuilding the team, in the run-up to next year’s World Cup in Australia, is not an easy one. However, the Romanian players showed, at many times during their matches, that their work so far with coach David Gérard is yielding results and that, perhaps, next year, in Australia they will put on a good performance.
