Sports Roundup
The latest from rugby, basketball, cycling and football
Florin Orban, 06.07.2026, 13:45
In the first matches of the Nations Cup, Romania’s fifteen was defeated by Chile, 48-31, in Santiago on Saturday. The hosts dominated almost the entire game and the Oak Trees, as the Romanian side is dubbed, eventually conceded defeat. Adrian Mitu, Ștefan Buruiană, Dylan Schwartz and Marius Simionescu managed four tries for the Romanian side all being converted by Gabriel Rupanu, who also scored from a penalty kick. Chile managed to score six tries. Also in the competition’s first leg, Georgia defeated Uruguay 41-34, in Montevideo, while Samoa secured a 66-19 against Hong Kong in Santiago. On July 11, Romania will be up against Uruguay and against Samoa on July 18. Both games are due in Montevideo.
We continue with basketball. Romania’s national male side conceded defeat to Montenegro 65-64 in Bar, on Sunday in their last game of Group B of the 2027 World Cup preliminaries. And with this result, the Romanian squad coached by Mihai Silvășan has definitely blown their chances to qualify for the competition’s next stage.
Romania’s best scorer was Daron Russell, with 17 points and 5 steals. Montenegro ranks first in the standings with 10 points, followed by Portugal and Greece each with nine and Romania with eight. Also worth noting is their historic win last week against Greece, bronze medalist in the latest European Championships.
Italian cyclist, Lorenzo Finn, with the Bora Red Bull team, on Sunday won the second leg of the Sibiu Tournament on a 157.8 km route between Sibiu and Păltiniș Arena. Out of the Romanian cyclists, the best fared Andrei Cărbunarea, who ended the race in the 28th place. Monday will be seeing the competition’s third leg on Transfăgărășan, one of Europe’s most spectacular motorways.
Romania’s football side Rapid Bucharest is training in Austria. On Thursday, Rapid secured a 3-1 win in a friendly against Dynamo Kyiv in Bad Wimsbach, while on Sunday, in Perg, they ended in a goaless draw their match against Rapid Vienna. Rapid’s training campaign includes two more games: against FC Kosice on July 8th and against Slovan Liberec a day later.
(bill)
