Sports weekend

The latest from rugby, handball and football

Florin Orban, 10.02.2023, 13:45

Romania’s
national rugby squad take on Belgium in Brussels on Saturday, in the second
round of the 2023 Rugby Europe Championship. In the first round, played last
week, The Oaks defeated Poland in Bucharest, 67 – 27, while Belgium
sustained a 17- 54 away defeat by Portugal. Starting this year, the competition
will be held in a new format, with teams divided into two groups. Romania is in
Group B alongside Portugal, Belgium and Poland, while Georgia, the Netherlands,
Spain and Germany are in Group A. The top two finishers in each group will play
in the semi-finals and the winners will meet in the final.

The
final round of the Champions League women’s handball group stage takes place
this weekend. In Group A, CSM Bucharest play Krim Ljubljana away from home on
Sunday. The Romanian runners-up are at the top of the table with 22 points and have
already qualified directly for the League’s quarter-finals. In second place is
Norway’s Vipers Kristiansand are 2nd-placed, with 21 points. The
final round can only have an effect on the final standings, but the final
opponents in the next round of the competition depend on that. On home court, in
Group B, Rapid Bucharest are pitted against Lokomotiva Zagreb of Croatia on
Sunday. In the quarterfinal’s playoffs, holders Rapid will most likely finish
4th in the group and are to face the team that finishes 5th in Group A.

The
weekend will see matches being played, counting towards the 25th round of the
Romanian Super League. On Friday, two games: Universitatea Cluj go against
Mioveni and Rapid play FC U Craiova. On Saturday, FC Botosani will play UTA in
Arad and Universitatea Craiova will face CFR Cluj at home. On Sunday, FC Argeș
will meet Farul Constanta in Pitesti and FCSB will play FC Voluntari, away from
home. On Monday, the last two games of the round: Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe against
Chindia Târgoviște and Petrolul Ploiești against Hermannstadt. Farul are at the
top of the as-it-stands table, with 51 points. The runner-up team are CFR Cluj,
with 50. (EN)