Romania will leave Sydney this afternoon with their heads held high, buoyed by their victory over Namibia to avoid the Pool A wooden spoon and confident that the national team’s future looks bright once more.
The Oaks, who return home to Bucharest via London, impressed many with their first half display in particular against Namibia, going on to win 37-7 in the first ever rugby union international in Tasmania and sign off from Rugby World Cup 2003 in style.
“It felt good [to beat Namibia] because our performance in the first half gave us a lot of confidence after the games that were not so good against Australia and Argentina especially,” fly half Ionut Tofan told rugbyworldcup.com
“I am sure we are on a good path because we have improved a lot in the last two years, but there is a lot more work to be done. For sure we will work very hard. We saw against the big names like Australia and Argentina that we still have a long way to go.”
Captain Romeo Gontineac, who in this, his third, Tournament won his 50th cap and surpassed the previous record of Rugby World Cup appearances by a Romanian to end with 10, echoed this sentiment to rugbyworldcup.com.
Happy for now
“I think it is quite positive for us and for the people who look forward to rugby in all of Romania,” Gontineac said. “I think it is positive and we will see in the end of the World Cup in the classification…if we finish 13 or 14…I think that is okay for us.
“This World Cup is okay but we wish to be better for 2007. For the moment it is okay. We started the World Cup with a very good game and we finished the same with one victory. We had two games that were not really good, but that is the competition.”
Two years ago Romanian rugby encountered its darkest hour with a record 134-0 defeat by England at Twickenham, but both Tofan and Gontineac are confident the recovery is under way and are in little doubt who deserves credit for this revival.
“We have a lot of confidence in our team, but I say that the game against Namibia gave us this confirmation [of our recovery],” explained Tofan. “We should be focusing on what we are doing because we are doing good and we must do it better.
“The coach Bernard Charreyre is the most important part of this new face of the Romanian team because he brought us very much the strength, the rigour, the discipline and also the French flair.
Reviving fortunes
“Coming to a more stereotypical rugby, which is the Romanian way, he brought a lot. He brought the game with the ball in hand, he brought the movement of the forwards and so he had a lot to do with our improvement.
“He encouraged us to play to the strength of the forwards, but not the stereotypical type of play, just the pattern not play. He encouraged us to play the forwards within the game, I guess play the ball with passes but also with the strength of the forwards.”
Gontineac, one of Romania’s stars of this Tournament, also heaped the praise on Charreyre, who has not only guided them to Rugby World Cup 2003 but also won the European Nations Cup in 2002 and second place in 2003.
“Two years ago Bernard Charreyre came and [since then] things have changed a lot,” insisted Gontineac. “The players are more professional and we are conditioned to practice and do this sport better and we have proved we can play good rugby.
“We have to step up now, sure we don’t want to stay at this level and not go down again. We have to look forward. We only can do this with the help of people like Bernard Charreyre and the people who have helped our rugby.”
'The Little Napoleon'
Charreyre though is retiring now, the 53 year old having been thrown into the air by his players amid their victory celebrations at York Park in Launceston.
However the Frenchman, who was nicknamed 'The Little Napoleon' by his players because of the passion and professionalism he went about his job with, is positive about the future of Romanian rugby.
“I am very happy for the players. The players have worked very hard and they deserved this win,” Charreyre said.
“It is a team that needs encouragement and it can continue to improve. This young group has everything it needs to qualify for the quarter finals of the 2007 World Cup.”