Romanians eye return to glory days

The impression of Romanian rugby has long been one of a once proud nation trapped in a spiral of decline. Long gone are those halcyon days when they sometimes scalped but almost always scared the Five Nations.

France, Wales and Scotland were all beaten in the 1980s, a strong Ireland XV held to a 13-13 draw at Lansdowne Road. Great times that only added to the sense of loss when the Mighty Oaks crumbled post-communism and you could argue that the game there is still in decline now.

Ask their Welsh manager Lynn Howells to rate the standard of a domestic league where two-thirds of his squad plays and he offers a one-word answer. “Blackrock,” he says before adding another comparison of a Welsh Premier League populated by sides like Pontypridd and Ebbw Vale.