# Moldova national rugby union team

The Moldova national rugby union team, nicknamed le stealers, are a Rugby Europe national team that play in the Conference 2 North competition and are administered by the Moldovan Rugby Federation. They are yet to qualify for the Rugby World Cup.

## History

Moldova played their first international on October 10, 1991 against Lithuania. Moldova won the match, 22 points to six. The next year they played against Bulgaria, which Moldova won, 42 points to three. Moldova played Hungary in 1995, which they won, by three points, 17 to 14.
They played Georgia, who defeated them 47 to five. They then played Ukraine and Latvia and Bulgaria soon after.
Moldova played twice in 1997, defeating Norway and losing to Croatia. They won a number of fixtures in 2000. They played the Netherlands the following year. The national rugby team was designated by the members of Moldova's Sports Press Association as the best Moldovan team in 2004. Following this, they played in qualifying tournaments for the 2007 Rugby World Cup European qualifiers. Moldova were grouped in Pool B of the second round, and they won two of their four matches, which saw them finish second in their pool behind Germany, and thus move onto round three and enter Pool A in round 3.
However, their road to the World Cup was ended when a respectful 2nd place above Poland, Netherlands and Andorra was not enough to proceed to round 4.

## Popularity

The popularity of rugby in Moldova is growing rapidly, with well over 1,250 fans regularly turning up to their home matches in the European Nations Cup. Since 2004, the number of Moldovan rugby players has more than doubled, due to the national team's growing international reputation.

## Notable players

Moldovan international Alexei Cotruţa was the top try-scorer in the Russian Professional Rugby League in 2006, scoring 16 tries in 14 matches for Moscow-area side VVA-Podmoskovye.
During March 2011, Vadim Cobîlaş signed for Aviva Premiership side, Sale Sharks. Shortly after, his younger brother Maxim Cobîlaş also signed for Aviva Premiership side, Sale Sharks making the two the first Moldovan players to sign for a professional English team. More recently, props Dmitri Arhip and Gheorghe Gajion have signed for two Welsh regional sides, Cardiff Blues and Ospreys.
On the 23rd of August 2018, Cristian Ojovan another prop made his debut for D2 side Aurillacois. After his impressive performances at Aurillacois, George Ojovan signed with Top 14 champions Clermont Auvergne during October 2019.

## Current squad

This is Moldova`s current squad for the 2022-23 for Rugby Europe Conference 2 North.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by World Rugby.
| Player | Position | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club/province |
| Alexandru Mutean | Hooker | (2004-02-02) 2 February 2004 (age 21) | 69 | Confey College |
| Marius Cardasim | Hooker | (2001-09-30) 30 September 2001 (age 23) | 2 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Valeriu Belous | Prop | (2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 24) | 2 | RC Ciorescu |
| Vlad Braniște | Prop | (1990-03-13) 13 March 1990 (age 34) | 2 | RC Sergus Soroca |
| Maxim Cobîlaș | Prop | (1986-08-12) 12 August 1986 (age 38) | 42 | VVA-Podmoskovie |
| Alexandru Colev | Prop | (1997-02-02) 2 February 1997 (age 28) | 10 | Unattached |
| Ruslan Dorogan | Prop | (1993-10-04) 4 October 1993 (age 31) | 5 | Clonakilty RFC |
| Andrei Lungu | Prop | (1995-11-28) 28 November 1995 (age 29) | 7 | Kavallieri RFC |
| Tudor Cojocaru | Lock | (2000-09-13) 13 September 2000 (age 24) | 4 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Andrei Mahu | Lock | (1991-09-03) 3 September 1991 (age 33) | 24 | London Irish |
| Andrei Romanov | Lock | (1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 (age 40) | 46 | Unattached |
| Dorin Boțan | Flanker | (1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 (age 29) | 6 | Unattached |
| Cristin Buzenco | Flanker | (1993-05-19) 19 May 1993 (age 31) | 2 | CSR Sporting |
| Petru Crețu | Flanker | (1995-08-20) 20 August 1995 (age 29) | 3 | LIMPS |
| Igor Orghianu | Flanker | (1991-10-31) 31 October 1991 (age 33) | 6 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Sergiu Budaian | Number 8 | (1989-09-22) 22 September 1989 (age 35) | 9 | CR UTM |
| Grigore Pahom | Scrum-half | (1999-09-22) 22 September 1999 (age 25) | 2 | Unione Rugbistica Anconitana |
| Vadim Preguza | Scrum-half | (1993-11-26) 26 November 1993 (age 31) | 14 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Ion Puică | Scrum-half | (1987-02-21) 21 February 1987 (age 38) | 3 | CUS Perugia Rugby |
| Dumitru Bețliu | Fly-half | (2000-02-25) 25 February 2000 (age 25) | 1 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Mihai Golubenco (c) | Fly-half | (1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 (age 30) | 20 | Unattached |
| Alexandru Matveev | Fly-half | (1989-06-02) 2 June 1989 (age 35) | 3 | RC Sporting ASEM |
| Alexandru Bulgac | Centre | (1994-08-14) 14 August 1994 (age 30) | 1 | Unattached |
| Ion Bușilă | Centre | (1986-06-02) 2 June 1986 (age 38) | 4 | CSR Lupii Albi |
| Igor Mișin | Centre | (1989-10-29) 29 October 1989 (age 35) | 9 | CR UTM |
| Ion Dinu | Wing | (1989-12-27) 27 December 1989 (age 35) | 2 | RC Ciorescu |
| Mihail Boian | Wing | (1997-11-28) 28 November 1997 (age 27) | 9 | Unattached |
| Ion Constantin | Wing | (1997-01-13) 13 January 1997 (age 28) | 8 | RC Ciorescu |
| Adrian Adam | Fullback | (1995-05-31) 31 May 1995 (age 29) | 9 | Unattached |
| Sandu Gritenco | Fullback | (2001-11-28) 28 November 2001 (age 23) | 1 | RC Ciorescu |
| Alexei Isaac | Fullback | (2000-11-08) 8 November 2000 (age 24) | 2 | RC Ciorescu |