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<blockquote data-quote="dragos03" data-source="post: 632505" data-attributes="member: 44724"><p><strong>The Bucharest Wolves</strong></p><p></p><p>This is the team that has been representing Romania in the Amlin Challenge Cup. It is not a real club, just a development squad assembled for this purpose with players from all the clubs in the Romanian Superliga. It is not a selection of the best players in the league and player development is its main goal. The coach of the national team also leads the Bucharest Wolves and he uses this team to test new tactics and to see young players in action against good opposition. It's usually a heavy rotated squad, with very little time to train together and without the cohesion of a real club. Even if winning games is not very important for the Bucharest Wolves, they have usually beaten the Italian clubs in the competition with ease and have sometimes won vs Top 14 clubs (Agen, Montauban, Bayonne and even Toulon). This season the Wolves have beaten Calvisano twice (the best Italian team in the Challenge Cup) and managed close results against the Newcastle Falcons (who barely won by 1 point in Bucharest thanks to a last minute penalty) and Brive (who won by 5 points in Bucharest and 11 in Brive).</p><p></p><p>The actual champions of Romania would surely be a stronger team than the Bucharest Wolves, but the ERC has refused to allow them to represent Romania for several years in a row, citing travel issues as an excuse. And even if the Wolves are by far the best non-Tier 1 team in the Challenge Cup, it looks like Romania will lose its spot in the competition and be relegated to a new competiton that will mostly include amateur teams.</p><p></p><p><strong>The Superliga</strong></p><p></p><p>The Superliga is the professional top tier of the Romanian domestic system and probably the best league in Europe after the big three. Significant investments have been made in recent years and the standard has improved every new season, this competition is the main reason for the rebirth of Romanian rugby. All the teams are fully professional and they all include foreign players alongside Romanian ones. 1-2 matches from each round are broadcasted live by the public TV station TVR and the remaining are live streamed online by the Federation. It is supposed to have a total of 8 teams, but only 7 have competed in 2013 and the new season will feature the same 7 clubs. The reason for that is the growing gap in standard between the Superliga and the amateur 2nd Division, it's very hard for promoted teams to be competitive and the last two champions of the second division chose to give up rather than get trashed. </p><p></p><p>There have been talks of transforming the Superliga into a regional competition in the future. This year, the Republic of Moldova was invited to create a frachise and compete in the league but they could not find the required funds for it. Serbia (who already has a youth club competing in the Romanian junior leagues) has also been rumored to be interested in entering a Belgrade-based franchise.</p><p></p><p>Last season, the Superliga was won by RCM Timisoara who defeated Baia Mare in the final. Steaua Bucharest won the Romanian Cup against the same unlucky Baia Mare. here's one of the tries from the Superliga final:</p><p>[media=youtube]uxSYkA5ZjUg[/media]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dragos03, post: 632505, member: 44724"] [B]The Bucharest Wolves[/B] This is the team that has been representing Romania in the Amlin Challenge Cup. It is not a real club, just a development squad assembled for this purpose with players from all the clubs in the Romanian Superliga. It is not a selection of the best players in the league and player development is its main goal. The coach of the national team also leads the Bucharest Wolves and he uses this team to test new tactics and to see young players in action against good opposition. It's usually a heavy rotated squad, with very little time to train together and without the cohesion of a real club. Even if winning games is not very important for the Bucharest Wolves, they have usually beaten the Italian clubs in the competition with ease and have sometimes won vs Top 14 clubs (Agen, Montauban, Bayonne and even Toulon). This season the Wolves have beaten Calvisano twice (the best Italian team in the Challenge Cup) and managed close results against the Newcastle Falcons (who barely won by 1 point in Bucharest thanks to a last minute penalty) and Brive (who won by 5 points in Bucharest and 11 in Brive). The actual champions of Romania would surely be a stronger team than the Bucharest Wolves, but the ERC has refused to allow them to represent Romania for several years in a row, citing travel issues as an excuse. And even if the Wolves are by far the best non-Tier 1 team in the Challenge Cup, it looks like Romania will lose its spot in the competition and be relegated to a new competiton that will mostly include amateur teams. [B]The Superliga[/B] The Superliga is the professional top tier of the Romanian domestic system and probably the best league in Europe after the big three. Significant investments have been made in recent years and the standard has improved every new season, this competition is the main reason for the rebirth of Romanian rugby. All the teams are fully professional and they all include foreign players alongside Romanian ones. 1-2 matches from each round are broadcasted live by the public TV station TVR and the remaining are live streamed online by the Federation. It is supposed to have a total of 8 teams, but only 7 have competed in 2013 and the new season will feature the same 7 clubs. The reason for that is the growing gap in standard between the Superliga and the amateur 2nd Division, it's very hard for promoted teams to be competitive and the last two champions of the second division chose to give up rather than get trashed. There have been talks of transforming the Superliga into a regional competition in the future. This year, the Republic of Moldova was invited to create a frachise and compete in the league but they could not find the required funds for it. Serbia (who already has a youth club competing in the Romanian junior leagues) has also been rumored to be interested in entering a Belgrade-based franchise. Last season, the Superliga was won by RCM Timisoara who defeated Baia Mare in the final. Steaua Bucharest won the Romanian Cup against the same unlucky Baia Mare. here's one of the tries from the Superliga final: [media=youtube]uxSYkA5ZjUg[/media] [/QUOTE]
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