Challenge Cup finalists Leicester and Montpellier each make two changes from their semi-final XVs

Inbetween,

Scotland - Italy

Bad,

Ireland - Wales

Club Finances & Player Salaries: Teams like Steaua and Dinamo have solid financial backing and can pay their players well—often more than clubs in the French 4th division and sometimes even the 3rd. This financial stability is a key reason why many Romanian players choose to stay rather than move to lower-tier French leagues.

Professionalism & Foreign Influence: The SuperLiga, with its six teams, maintains a strong professional setup. This attracts many foreign players, which raises the overall level of competition. However, this also makes it difficult for young Romanian players to transition into the top league, as the jump from training 2-3 times a week to a full-time professional setup is significant.

Facilities: While some clubs, like Steaua, have modern facilities, others, such as Timișoara, struggle with inadequate infrastructure. Outside the SuperLiga, the situation is even worse—many clubs still rely on outdated communist-era facilities. Since most don’t own their stadiums, investment in improvements is minimal. Clubs risk losing their grounds to football academies (e.g., Tei - Bucharest), real estate developments (e.g., Brașov), or stalled public projects (e.g., Brăila’s unfinished Olympic pool, under construction for 15 years).

League Structure & Future Growth: The first division remains fully professional and competitive compared to other second-tier leagues in Europe. However, with only six teams, expansion seems unlikely in the next 1-2 years. Meanwhile, second-division teams are barely surviving.

Junior Development: Youth rugby is in decline, with fewer teams and players than before. However, there are promising efforts to establish privately funded clubs, particularly at the mini-rugby level.

Overall, while the top-tier league is stable, Romanian rugby still faces major challenges in infrastructure, youth development, and league expansion.

In theory, the current state should be enough to keep us among the top 24 teams in the world, ensuring Rugby World Cup qualification and potentially climbing a few spots in the World Rankings - but not much beyond that. However, I can also see us occasionally missing out on a World Cup or having to go through the repechage if we falter on the wrong day.

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Grow up.

Dream on if you think the age is going to help in anyway. Vermeulen was still a beats at 37

Also read up on Aled Walters opinion on age. Age related to conditioning and injuries all change the profile. Some players peak at 30 plus. Regardless age won’t be a relief for Bok opponents.

If you’re holding out for Steward playing 12 for England then settle in for a long wait would be my advice, that’s even with Lawrence side-lined. Aki (or Tuipulotu) he ain’t.

If I was Steward and wanting to play for England I would be focused on playing a position that aligns with my strengths as a player, rather than following the advice of some extremely poorly informed online commenters to switch to a position that aligs with none of them.

The most important attribute for a 12 is the ability to defend at 12. There is no reason to think that Steward would be good at this.

How does it feel to be the most boring ruby commentator in Australian rugby ?