The Romania rugby team, which has been playing since 1987, gains the 15 th position in the International Rugby Board (IRB) world ranking. Romania played their first international match in 1919. The team is one of the three teams who entered the 1924 Olympics in Paris.They were eliminated in the pool phase in 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003 Rugby World Cups.
They could manage to win only four matches out of the 16 rugby matches played and scored only 221 points. In the 1991 Rugby World Cup , the Romania team beat Fiji and in 1995 Rugby World Cup , they could defeat South Africa. At the 1999 World Cup , the Romania team could only manage a single win against the United States.
Romania has also won the first European Nations Cup in 2000. Led by head coach Daniel Santamans and Robert Antonin, the team is all set to compete in the 2007 Rugby World Cup tournament. IRB gave 'second tier' status to Romania replacing Russia in the Super Powers Cup.
Romania has been qualified for the 2007 Rugby World Cup , which will be held in France. They won their first qualifying match in October, defeating Georgia and also won the match against Spain in Madrid in October qualifying directly for the Rugby World Cup 2007. Romania is also preparing to host the IRB Nations Cup in Bucuresti in June 2007. The team has been placed in Pool C category along with New Zealand, Scotland and Italy.
The team that wears yellow shirt, blue shorts and yellow socks with the emblem of Oak leaf also has a number of notable players. Some of its notable players include Petru Balan, Gabriel Brezoianu, Hari Dumitras, Romeo Gontineac, Adrian Lungu, Valentin Maftei, Alexandru Manta, Razvan Mavrodin, Viorel Morariu, Florica Murariu, Mircea Paraschiv, Adrien Petrache, Cristian Petre, Sorin Socol, Marius Tincu and Ovidiu Tonita.
