Sports weekend

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)