Moldova national rugby union team

Moldova

Nickname(s)	Haiducii (The Outlaws)
Union	Moldovan Rugby Federation
Head coach	Sergiu Motoc
Captain	Alexandru Mutean
Most caps	Alexandru Mutean (69)
Top scorer	Alexandru Mutean (500)
Top try scorer	Oleg Prepelița (27)
Home stadium	Gelu Memorial Stadium
First colours Second colours
Chisinau, Moldova; 18 November 2000)
Biggest defeat
Sweden 80–6  Moldova (Norrköping, Sweden; 20 October 2018)
World Cup
Appearances	0
Website	www.rugby.md

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.

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

. 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.

Record

Below is a table of the representative rugby matches played by the Moldova national XV at test level up until 7 October 2023:

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	% Won
Andorra	2	2	0	0	100%
Austria	3	2	1	0	66.67%
Belgium	9	2	7	0	22.22%
Bulgaria	3	3	0	0	100%
Croatia	1	0	1	0	0%
Czech Republic	8	4	4	0	50%
Denmark	2	2	0	0	100%
Finland	2	1	1	0	50%
Georgia	1	0	1	0	0%
Germany	8	3	5	0	37.5%
Hungary	5	4	1	0	80%
Israel	1	1	0	0	100%
Latvia	5	2	3	0	40%
Lithuania	2	2	0	0	100%
Luxembourg	3	1	2	0	33.33%
Malta	2	2	0	0	100%
Monaco	1	1	0	0	100%
Netherlands	10	5	5	0	50%
Norway	2	2	0	0	100%
Poland	9	5	3	1	55.56%
Portugal	2	0	2	0	0%
Serbia	1	1	0	0	100%
Serbia and Montenegro	2	1	0	1	50%
Slovenia	2	0	2	0	0%
Sweden	5	3	2	0	60%
Switzerland	2	0	2	0	0%
Turkey	1	1	0	0	100%
Ukraine	11	7	4	0	63.64%
Yugoslavia	2	1	1	0	50%
Total	107	58	47	2	54.21%

Popularity

The popularity of rugby in

. 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

.

During March 2011,

.

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 20)	69	Confey College
Marius Cardasim	Hooker	(2001-09-30) 30 September 2001 (age 22)	2	RC Sporting ASEM
Valeriu Belous	Prop	(2000-11-28) 28 November 2000 (age 23)	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 37)	42	VVA-Podmoskovie
Alexandru Colev	Prop	(1997-02-02) 2 February 1997 (age 27)	10	Unattached
Ruslan Dorogan	Prop	(1993-10-04) 4 October 1993 (age 30)	5	Clonakilty RFC
Andrei Lungu	Prop	(1995-11-28) 28 November 1995 (age 28)	7	Kavallieri RFC
Tudor Cojocaru	Lock	(2000-09-13) 13 September 2000 (age 23)	4	RC Sporting ASEM
Andrei Mahu	Lock	(1991-09-03) 3 September 1991 (age 32)	24	London Irish
Andrei Romanov	Lock	(1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 (age 39)	46	Unattached
Dorin Boțan	Flanker	(1996-02-09) 9 February 1996 (age 28)	6	Unattached
Cristin Buzenco	Flanker	(1993-05-19) 19 May 1993 (age 30)	2	CSR Sporting
Petru Crețu	Flanker	(1995-08-20) 20 August 1995 (age 28)	3	LIMPS
Igor Orghianu	Flanker	(1991-10-31) 31 October 1991 (age 32)	6	RC Sporting ASEM
Sergiu Budaian	Number 8	(1989-09-22) 22 September 1989 (age 34)	9	CR UTM
Grigore Pahom	Scrum-half	(1999-09-22) 22 September 1999 (age 24)	2	Unione Rugbistica Anconitana
Vadim Preguza	Scrum-half	(1993-11-26) 26 November 1993 (age 30)	14	RC Sporting ASEM
Ion Puică	Scrum-half	(1987-02-21) 21 February 1987 (age 37)	3	CUS Perugia Rugby
Dumitru Bețliu	Fly-half	(2000-02-25) 25 February 2000 (age 24)	1	RC Sporting ASEM
Mihai Golubenco (c)	Fly-half	(1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 (age 29)	20	Unattached
Alexandru Matveev	Fly-half	(1989-06-02) 2 June 1989 (age 34)	3	RC Sporting ASEM
Alexandru Bulgac	Centre	(1994-08-14) 14 August 1994 (age 29)	1	Unattached
Ion Bușilă	Centre	(1986-06-02) 2 June 1986 (age 37)	4	CSR Lupii Albi
Igor Mișin	Centre	(1989-10-29) 29 October 1989 (age 34)	9	CR UTM
Ion Dinu	Wing	(1989-12-27) 27 December 1989 (age 34)	2	RC Ciorescu
Mihail Boian	Wing	(1997-11-28) 28 November 1997 (age 26)	9	Unattached
Ion Constantin	Wing	(1997-01-13) 13 January 1997 (age 27)	8	RC Ciorescu
Adrian Adam	Fullback	(1995-05-31) 31 May 1995 (age 28)	9	Unattached
Sandu Gritenco	Fullback	(2001-11-28) 28 November 2001 (age 22)	1	RC Ciorescu
Alexei Isaac	Fullback	(2000-11-08) 8 November 2000 (age 23)	2	RC Ciorescu

External links

• www.rugby.md
• www.goldteam.md
• www.facebook.com