Rampant Romania run in 11 tries to stun Poland
ROMANIA got their Rugby Europe Championship campaign of to fine start with an 11-try win over Poland.
The World Cup-bound Romanians were a class above the Poles, who are making their debut in the revamped tournament.
Cristian Chirica, Taylor Gontineac and Hinckley Vaovasa all grabbed try doubles, with further scores from Marius Simionescu, Paul Popoaia, Tudor Butnariu, Gheorghe Gajion and Robert Irimescu. Ionel Melinte converted four of them, with Paul Popoaia adding two more.
Poland managed to cross for three tries from Thomas Fidler, Tomek Pozniak and Peter Hudson Kowalewicz, with Dawid Banaszek kicking seven points and Dawid Banaszek four.
Christian Hitt’s Polish team will next play another team heading to France’23 – Portugal – before a clash with another newly promoted side Belgium, winners of last season’s Rugby Europe Trophy.
Heading into the tournament Poland had won five of the six Tests they have played since the Welshman came on board as head coach in April 2021.
With the eight-team Rugby Europe Championship ringfenced for two years, Poland will be able to use the first year to acclimatise at a higher level without the fear of dropping back down to the Trophy hanging over them.
“It’s been nice winning… a lot,” he said. “We could have either stayed at the level we were or challenged ourselves at the level we are currently at and, for me, we are only going to learn and get better by playing better teams.
“If you look at the teams who have historically done that, your Romanias and Georgias, they have taken some beatings over the years but they have closed that gap and that is the thing for us, we want to close that gap and be competitive and move the programme forward.
“It’s going to be a challenge and we are not shying away from that. We know that tough games will be coming up and it is not going to be an easy ride, especially over the next three weeks, but it is one the boys are excited about. Hopefully we can put ourselves in a good light come the end of March and into next year as well.”
In the other match in Pool B, Portugal beat Belgium 54-17 last night.
Today in Pool A, reigning champions Georgia face Germany, with Spain hosting Netherlands.