Rugby union in Moldova is a popular sport. The governing body in Moldova is the Moldovan Rugby Federation (''Federatia de Rugby din Moldovei'').

History

Soviet Period

Rugby union was played in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

as early as in 1908. In 1934, the Moscow Championship was started, and in 1936, the first Soviet Championship took place. In 1949, rugby union was forbidden in the USSR during the "fight against the cosmopolitanism". The competitions were resumed in 1957, and the Soviet Championship in 1966. In 1975, the Soviet national team played their first match. Rugby union appears to have been introduced to the

Moldavian SSR The Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic ( ro, Republica Sovietică Socialistă Moldovenească, Moldovan Cyrillic: ) was one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1940 to 1991. The republic was formed on 2 August 194 ...

in 1967. Moldova had its own rugby team in the USSR, but it was not treated as a proper national side.

Post-independence

Perhaps surprisingly, the popularity of rugby in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

is growing rapidly, with well over 10,000 fans regularly turning up to their home matches in the

European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to: *UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup * Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (fi ...

. Since 2004, the number of Moldovan rugby players has more than doubled, due to the national team's growing international reputation.

Rugby union in Romania Rugby union is a moderately popular team sport played in Romania with a tradition of more than 100 years. The Romanian men's national team are currently 18th in the World Rugby Rankings as of 14 June 2021. History Early history The game was int ...

is quite a major sport, going back ninety years, and as Moldova shares language and a border with

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, this has helped its popularity in the country.

National team

The

Moldova national rugby union team The Moldova national rugby union team, nicknamed Haiducii, 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. ...

represents

in international

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

matches. They have yet to qualify for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

Sevens

According to the IRB website, Moldova will play in their first-ever IRB Sevens World Series event when the season reaches its climax in Scotland.International Rugby Board – NEWS
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Women's rugby

Although Moldova's women have not yet played test match rugby, they have been playing international sevens rugby since 2007. (Current playing record).

References

External links

www.rugby.md

Rugby in Moldova

PlanetaOvala.ro

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