Romania’s strong performances in the European Nations Cup over the last couple of years – they won the tournament in 2002 and were runners up in 2001 – saw them enter the Rugby World Cup 2003 qualifiers in the Europe zone fourth round.
The Oaks, as the national team are known, gave a good account of themselves against Italy in their opening qualifier on 28 September 2002, recovering from 16-0 down to lead 17-16 before eventually going down 25-17 in Parma.
A week later Romania comfortably booked their place at Rugby World Cup 2003 with a nine-try 67-6 rout of Spain in their winner takes all encounter watched by some 15,000 fans at the Emil Alexandrescu Stadium in Iasi.
Romania are no strangers to the Rugby World Cup scene as one of 12 nations to have competed in all four of the tournaments to date. The Oaks managed to win one match on every occasion bar the 1995 showpiece in South Africa.
Each of these victories has been a close cut affair with the beating Zimbabwe 21-20 in their first ever Rugby World Cup match in 1987, Fiji 17-15 in 1991 and the United States 27-25 eight years later.
Romanian rugby has gone through a difficult period since the last tournament, their 134-0 defeat by England in November 2001 proving a catalyst for change with Bernard Charreyre brought in as coach and a return to traditional strengths.
Once the chosen sport of the military, Romania are renowned for their strong forwards, hard hitting tackles and direct running, although Charreyre has given the backs more freedom and the early signs are promising.
Their primary goal for Rugby World Cup 2003 is to beat Namibia with captain Romeo Gontineac, Gabriel Brezoianu, Ionut Tofan, Petru Balan, Sorin Socol and Marius Tincu all likely to have starring roles.