Timișoara Saracens

Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT is a professional Romanian rugby union club from Timișoara, which plays in the CEC Bank SuperLiga, the first division of Romanian rugby. The team first won the championship in 1972, becoming the first club outside Bucharest to achieve this performance. In the modern format of the SuperLiga, Timișoara Saracens won 4 titles in 6 seasons. The team is colloquially known as "Universitatea" Timișoara as it has historical ties with the University of Timișoara. In 2014 the club became a partner of London-based Saracens rugby club.

Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT
Full nameTimișoara Saracens Rugby Club Municipal Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara
Founded1949 (1949)
LocationTimișoara, Romania
Ground(s)Stadionul Gheorghe Rășcanu
Stadionul Dan Păltinișanu (Capacity: 1,000
32,972)
PresidentAlexandru Ilie
Coach(es)Valentin Calafeteanu
Captain(s)Eugen Căpățână
League(s)CEC Bank SuperLiga
2018–194th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
rugby-timisoara.ro
Active departments of SCM Timișoara
Basketball
(Men's)		 Basketball
(Women's)		 Handball
(Men's)
Handball
(Women's)		 Rugby Motorcycling

History

In 1949, CSUT (Club Sportiv Universitar Timișoara) played its first match in the city of Sighişoara against the local team, that match was won by CSUT with a score of 34–0, the team from Timișoara having the following line-up: Liteanu, Antonescu, Popa, Nistor, Haller, Onciul, Zomborian, Georgescu (player-coach), Dăncescu, Gurti, Kalincov, Barla, Baruch, Balios and Melinte.

Name change and first National title

Starting with the year 1966 the team changes its name from CSUT to Universitatea Timișoara; Mitică Antonescu was in charge of the team at that point. The year 1966 was the start of the ascension for the team from Timișoara. In the 1968–69 championship the team occupies 5th place, in the 1969–70 championship the team occupies 3rd place, in the 1970–71 championship the team occupies 5th place and in the 1971–72 championship, Universitatea Timișoara – after 58 years of supremacy from the teams from Bucharest – manages to bring the national title to Timișoara.

It is said that on 12 June 1972 (the day the team won the national title) the bells of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Timișoara rang one time more than usual, and on the second day at the gate of the boarding house where the majority of the rugby players of Universitatea Timișoara were living, on a board the following could be read: "Trecătorule, oprește-te un moment și înclină-te în fața ușii caminului unde trăiesc perlele rugby-ului românesc (translation: Passer-by, stop for a moment and kneel in front of the door of the boarding house where the pearls of Romanian rugby are living)", the author of it being, at that time student, Nicolae Benga. Here are the artisans of this beautiful achievement: Duţă, Szasz, Cândrea, Peter, Suciu, Gheţu, Iacob, Ceauş, Tătucu, Nedelcu, Vollman, Rășcanu, Priess, Ionică, Ene, Malancu, Neiss, Popovici, Vlad, Ioniță, Arsene.

Chester Williams Era

In January 2012, former Springbok Chester Williams (the only non-white player in South Africa's winning 1995 Rugby World Cup team) joined Timișoara Saracens as head coach. His first attempt to get involved with Romanian rugby was being the technical director for CS Dinamo București. He was close to taking over the bench of Timișoara in the summer of 2011, but negotiations were put to a hold because of the World Cup that was taking place in New Zealand.

Williams brought Timișoara their first league title in 40 years in 2012. He was then replaced by fellow South African Danie de Villiers. In 2014, former New Zealand Heartland XV coach Grainger Heikell took over from De Villiers as head coach of Timișoara Saracens.

After two successful seasons for Timișoara, Chester Williams eventually returned to replace Danie de Villiers.

Romanian Cup

In 2011, Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT won the Romanian Cup for the first time, after a 32–10 victory against CSM Stiinţa Baia-Mare. The match took place in Alba Iulia, on the Cetate Stadium. Timișoara Saracens won the Romania Cup once again in 2014 with a victory over CSM Stiinţa Baia-Mare on Cluj Arena, and went on to repeat their cup success in 2015 and 2016.

Romanian Rugby Championship (pre-2012) and SuperLiga (2012-)

In 2011, Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT finished in 3rd place. After losing 22–24 to CSM Știința Baia Mare in the semifinals of the Romanian Rugby Championship, the team from Timișoara won the 3rd place final against Farul Constanţa (15–11). Under Chester Williams' management, they won the league in 2012 and 2013.

In 2014, Timișoara lost against Farul Constanța in the league semi-finals, after the medical visas were allegedly ripped out of the files of Timișoara Saracen's top six players.[1] This is one of many corruption accusations made by the team.

Timișoara Saracens won the league again in 2015 and 2016–17. These two finals, as well as the finals in 2012 and 2013, were played against CSM Știința Baia Mare. Timișoara won 8 out of 8 finals (in the SuperLiga, Romanian Cup and King's Cup) they played against Baia Mare.

Honours

Domestic
  • SuperLiga CEC Bank:
    • Winners (6): 1972, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017–18
    • Runner-up (1): 1973
    • Third Place (7): 1974, 1975, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2011, 2014
  • Cupa României
    • Winners (4): 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016
    • Runner-up (4): 1978, 1980, 2018, 2019
  • Cupa Regelui:
    • Winners (1): 2015
    • Runner-up (1): 2017

European
  • Energy Cup (Central and Eastern European Rugby Cup):
    • Winners (1): 2009
    • Runner-up (2): 2010, 2011

Current squad

The Timișoara Saracens squad for the 2019–20 SuperLiga season is:[2] Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Eugen Căpățână (c) Hooker Romania
Andrei Rădoi Hooker Romania
Marian Sabău Hooker Romania
Mihai Lazăr Prop Romania
Marius Lungu Prop Romania
Gigi Militaru Prop Romania
George Moise Prop Romania
Horațiu Pungea Prop Romania
Joji Sikote Prop Fiji
Dorin Lazăr Lock Romania
Ionuț Mureșan Lock Romania
Valentin Popârlan Lock Romania
Kemal Altinok Back row Romania
Vlad Neculau Back row Romania
Damian Strătilă Back row Romania
David Trăușan Back row Romania
George Tătăruș Back row Romania
Player Position Union
Gabriel Conache Scrum-half Romania
Sorin Pândichi Scrum-half Romania
Gabriel Rupanu Scrum-half Romania
Gabriel Jipa Fly-half Romania
Paul Perici Fly-half Romania
Hinckley Vaovasa Fly-half New Zealand
Ionuț Balaban Centre Romania
Cătălin Fercu Centre Romania
Tevita Manumua Centre Tonga
Vlăduț Popa Centre Romania
Moa Mua Maliepo Centre Romania
Stephen Shennan Wing Romania
Vlăduț Zaharia Wing Romania
Ionel Melinte Fullback Romania
Marius Simionescu Fullback Romania
  • note = Players in bold have played at least one match for their national team.

Notable former players

Former coaches
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See also

References
  1. http://www.gsp.ro/sporturi/rugby/au-disparut-foile-din-carnete-scandal-monstru-in-semifinalele-superligii-nationale-de-rugby-433903.html
  2. "Timișoara Saracens current squad list". SuperLiga CEC Bank (in Romanian). Retrieved 9 August 2019.
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