Sports roundup

The latest from men's handball, rugby and football

Radio România Internațional, 17.03.2025, 13:09

Romania’s national rugby squad’s ending match of the international spring season was a victory. On Sunday, the Romanians grabbed a 21-7 away win against Portugal, in the 3rd-place final of Rugby Europe Championship, the second-tier European competition after the Six Nations Tournament.

We recall a month ago in a direct Group B fixture, Romania was trounced by Portugal in Botosani, 34-6. On 18 minutes, Nicolaas Immelman succeeded a try and so did Cristi Boboc, at the end of the first half of the game. Alin Conache successfully scored the first try and three more penalty kicks.

Georgia won the Rugby Europe Championship trophy. In the final, Georgia outclassed Spain, 46-28. The first four teams in descending order have secured their direct qualification to the 2027 edition of the World Cup, to be held in Australia.

Also on Sunday in Mioveni, in the south, the Romanian men’s national handball team defeated the similar team of Israel, 28-26, in a Group 8 fixture as part of the European Championship preliminaries. We recall the European competition is scheduled in 2026. The Romanian team’s top scorer was Daniel Stanciuc, who scored 10 goals. On Tuesday, in Serbia’s Kraljevo, Romania and Israel drew, 29-all.

Also in Group 8, Portugal defeated Poland, 32-27. Portugal is at the top of the table with 7 points. Following in descending order are Poland, Romania and Israel, with 4, 3 and 2 points, respectively. The first two teams in the eight groups, as well as the best 3rd-placed teams, qualify to the final tournament. Romania’s next scheduled fixture is the match against Portugal on May 8th in Constanta.

This past weekend saw matches being played, counting towards the first round of Group1/Group 2 final phase. In Group 2, where teams fight to avoid relegation, in Ploiesti on Friday, the local side Petrolul sustained a nil-2 defeat by FC Botoşani. In Ovidiu on Saturday, the match pitting Farul Constanţa against Poli Iasi ended in a blank draw.

In Sibiu on Sunday, FC Hermannstadt Sibiu and Unirea Slobozia drew, 1-all. In Arad, the game pitting host team UTA against Otelul Galaţi meant a 2-nil win for the former squad. In Group 2 on Friday, Universitatea Craiova grabbed a 3-nil home win against Universitatea Cluj.

On Saturday in Cluj, CFR defeated Dinamo Bucharest, 3-1. In Bucharest on Sunday, FCSB and Rapid drew, 3-all. With 30 points on its record sheet, CFR Cluj is at the top of the table. Following are Craiova and FCSB, with 29 points each.