Moldova national rugby union team

Moldova played their first international on October 10, 1991 against Lithuania. Moldova won the match, 22 points to six. The next year they played against Bulgaria, which Moldova won, 42 points to three. Moldova played Hungary in 1995, which they won, by three points, 17 to 14.

They played Georgia, who defeated them 47 to five. They then played Ukraine and Latvia and Bulgaria soon after.

Moldova played twice in 1997, defeating Norway and losing to Croatia. They won a number of fixtures in 2000. They played the Netherlands the following year. The national rugby team was designated by the members of Moldova's Sports Press Association as the best Moldovan team in 2004. Following this, they played in qualifying tournaments for the 2007 Rugby World Cup European qualifiers. Moldova were grouped in Pool B of the second round, and they won two of their four matches, which saw them finish second in their pool behind Germany, and thus move onto round three and enter Pool A in round 3.

However, their road to the World Cup was ended when a respectful 2nd place above Poland, Netherlands and Andorra was not enough to proceed to round 4.

Surprisingly, the popularity of rugby in Moldova is growing rapidly, with well over 1,250 fans regularly turning up to their home matches in the European Nations Cup. Since 2004, the number of Moldovan rugby players has more than doubled, due to the national team's growing international reputation.

Moldovan international Alexei Cotruţa was the top try-scorer in the Russian Professional Rugby League in 2006, scoring 16 tries in 14 matches for Moscow-area side VVA-Podmoskovye.

During March 2011, Vadim Cobîlaş signed for Aviva Premiership side, Sale Sharks. Shortly after, his younger brother Maxim Cobîlaş also signed for Aviva Premiership side, Sale Sharks making the two the first Moldovan players to sign for a professional English team. More recently, props Dmitri Arhip and Gheorghe Gajion have signed for two Welsh regional sides, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys.

On the 23rd of August 2018, Cristian Ojovan another prop made his debut for D2 side Aurillacois. After his impressive performances at Aurillacois, George Ojovan signed with Top 14 champions Clermont Auvergne during October 2019.

This is Moldova`s current squad for the 2019-20 for Rugby Europe Conference 2 North.

Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.

Player Position Date of birth (age) Caps Club/province Sergiu Goncear Hooker Circa 1 Esztergomi Vitézek Rugby AFC Marius Cardasim Hooker Circa 2001 2 RC Sporting ASEM Valeriu Belous Prop Circa 2000 2 RC Ciorescu Vlad Braniște Prop Circa 2 RC Sergus Soroca Maxim Cobîlaș Prop (1986-08-12) 12 August 1986 ? VVA-Podmoskovie Alexandru Colev Prop (1997-02-02) 2 February 1997 10 Unattached Ruslan Dorogan Prop (1993-10-04) 4 October 1993 5 Clonakilty RFC Andrei Lungu Prop Circa 1995 7 Kavallieri RFC Tudor Cojocaru Lock Circa 1996 4 RC Sporting ASEM Andrei Mahu Lock (1991-09-03) 3 September 1991 24 Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk Andrei Romanov Lock (1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 46 Unattached Dorin Boțan Flanker Circa 1996 6 Unattached Cristin Buzenco Flanker Circa 1993 2 CSR Sporting Petru Crețu Flanker Circa 3 LIMPS Igor Orghianu Flanker Circa 1991 6 RC Sporting ASEM Sergiu Budaian Number 8 Circa 1989 9 CR UTM Grigore Pahom Scrum-half Circa 1999 2 Unione Rugbistica Anconitana Vadim Preguza Scrum-half Circa 1993 14 RC Sporting ASEM Ion Puică Scrum-half Circa 1987 3 CUS Perugia Rugby Dumitru Bețliu Fly-half Circa 2000 1 RC Sporting ASEM Mihai Golubenco (c) Fly-half (1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 20 Unattached Alexandru Matveev Fly-half Circa 1989 3 RC Sporting ASEM Alexandru Bulgac Centre Circa 1 Unattached Ion Bușilă Centre Circa 1986 4 CSR Lupii Albi Igor Mișin Centre Circa 1989 9 CR UTM Ion Dinu Wing Circa 2 RC Ciorescu Mihail Boian Wing Circa 9 Unattached Ion Constantin Wing Circa 1997 8 RC Ciorescu Adrian Adam Fullback Circa 1995 9 Unattached Sandu Gritenco Fullback Circa 2001 1 RC Ciorescu Alexei Isaac Fullback Circa 2000 2 RC Ciorescu External links www.rugby.md www.goldteam.md www.facebook.com