Florin Vlaicu (born 26 July 1986 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

) is a former Romanian

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 ...

player. He played as a fly half or centre for professional Liga Națională de Rugby club SCM Timișoara. He could also play as a fullback, thus being considered a utility back due to his versatility. He is Romania's all time leading point scorer and the most capped player.

Club career

Junior years

Vlaicu started playing rugby at RC Flamingo București, an amateur rugby club that recruited schoolboys suited for the sport. He then moved to local club RC Grivița București, where he continued his junior years.

Senior years

After finishing his junior career he joined local giants Steaua. After 8 seasons with Steaua, with a brief stint with RCM Timișoara for whom he played one single match in 2011, he was signed in early 2014 by RCJ Farul Constanța, where he played for the whole season. Beginning with 2015 a move to local team CSM Olimpia București followed. After an impressive performance at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Vlaicu was signed by Italian club Calvisano. After just one season with the Italians, Vlaicu returned to home soil, this time joining his former team Steaua. After 2 seasons we was once again signed by CSM București who had big ambitions at that moment in establishing a powerful side in order to capture both SuperLiga and Romanian Cup trophies. In 2019 his third spell with giants Steaua begun following the dissolution of his former club, CSM.

Provincial / State sides

Vlaicu was also selected between 2005 and 2015 for the State side assembled to play in the European Cups, namely București Wolves. Florin Vlaicu 2011

International career

Vlaicu made his international debut in 2006 as a substitute against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

. He played for Romania in the

IRB Nations Cup The Nations Cup is a rugby union competition that was first held in 2006 at Estádio Universitário in Lisbon with Argentina A, Italy A, Portugal and Russia taking part. The tournament is part of the International Rugby Board's US $50 million St ...

and in their

2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying There were 20 places available for the 2007 Rugby World Cup held in France. The 86 teams taking part in regional qualifying competitions together with the 8 teams which have qualified automatically brings to 94 the total number of teams participat ...

before appearing for them in the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

. He played two

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

at the World Cup as a substitute against both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, scoring a penalty against the latter. He also played at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

and the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was on ...

. He reached his 100th cap on 11 March 2017 when Romania played against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Records

Vlaicu set a series of records during his career. He is the most-capped Romanian player at international level with 129 caps so far, as well as the all-time caps leader from what

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

calls an "emerging nation"—defined in men's rugby as those outside of

The Rugby Championship The Rugby Championship is an international rugby union competition contested annually by Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. These are the four highest ranked national teams in the Southern Hemisphere; the Six Nations is a ...

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. As of October 2021 he was the second leading active top point scorer in international rugby, with 1024 points (6th in the all-time rankings). Florin is also the most prolific point scorer for Romania at 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 ...

with 28 points scored over three tournaments. On 13 March 2021 Vlaicu surpassed the 1000 point mark, kicking three penalties to help Romania overcome Portugal in the 2021 Rugby Europe Championship.

Retirement

Vlaicu announced his retirement from rugby at the end of 2022.

Honours

Club

; Steaua București * Liga Națională ** Champion: 2006 *

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

** Winner (3): 2006, 2007, 2019 ; RCM Timișoara *

** Winner: 2011RCM Timişoara a cîştigat Cupa României la rugby
/ref> ; CSM București *

** Winner: 2018

International

;

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

* Rugby Europe Championships ** Champion (3): 2004–06, 2008–10, 2016–17

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vlaicu, Florin 1986 births Living people Rugby union players from Bucharest Romanian rugby union players Romania international rugby union players Rugby union centres Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union fullbacks București Wolves players CSA Steaua București (rugby union) players SCM Rugby Timișoara players RCJ Farul Constanța players CSM București (rugby union) players Rugby Calvisano players Expatriate rugby union players in Italy Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Romanian expatriate rugby union players