Rugby World Cup 2023 – Valentin Ursache, co-coach of Romania: “We feel abandoned”

The Romanian selection has been in difficulty since the start of the World Cup. How do you explain it?

Already, we have fallen into the worst group of the competition with Scotland, Ireland, South Africa and even Tonga… But we have other problems.

Which ones, for example?

Our championship is very average: each year, only five teams fight for the title; the matches are not hard enough… So, when our players find themselves in the World Cup once every four years, they suffer…

What is the real level of the five teams you mention, in the championship?

To give you an idea, the day the Timisoara team met Clermont in the European Challenge, our players were beaten (in 2018, 70-12). The level of our championship is Federal 1, nothing more, nothing less.

We follow you.

Recently, World Rugby produced statistics on the Romanian national team: at the time when it had honest results in the World Cup, in 2007 or 2011 for example, five Romanian internationals played in the country, the others played all in France or England. Today, in our squad, 23 internationals come from the domestic championship, three play in Pro D2 and the others in the federal division. At the international level, the gap with our adversaries is therefore far too great…

Does the Romanian national team play often enough against the major rugby nations to progress?

Of course not. We sometimes feel a little abandoned. We only have Tournament B and we have been fighting for a very long time for all this to evolve because as it stands, we will never be able to progress. (he pauses) Ultimately, if nothing changes, all our World Cups will look the same… Because there are no miracles in international rugby…

Does there still exist any hope?

(he sighs) A partnership was recently signed between the Romanian and Italian federations. That would allow us to face the Squadra Azzurra twice a year. It’s a start but it’s far from enough… […] We would have to rethink everything, restructure everything, starting with rugby within our borders: at present, we do not even have a competition for Juniors. How do you want, in this case, to train and develop players? Nothing was anticipated…

You train the Oyonnax Hopes. Why don’t you bring Romanian talent there, for example?

Jiff regulations prevent us from doing so. This is a very good thing for French rugby but less good for the small rugby countries which, previously, relied on professional championships (Top 14 and Pro D2) to develop their players.

Were the big defeats against South Africa (76-0) or Ireland (82-8) difficult to live with?

We are touched, yes… We have pride and all that hurts us. Romanian rugby is at a turning point in its history. On the one hand, I thank the foreigners (several players from Tonga have recently been naturalized by the federation, ND .LR) who allow us to raise the level of the national team and clubs a little; they are good boys. On the other hand, I tell myself that we have totally forgotten the identity of Romanian rugby, the power of its forward pack, the Carpathian scrum, all that, what…