Florin Vlaicu (born 26 July 1986) is a Romanian former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He last played as a fly half or centre for 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 for his nation.

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 is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. He played for Romania in the IRB Nations Cup and in their 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying before appearing for them in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played two Tests at the World Cup as a substitute against both

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and the All Blacks, 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 World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

and the 2015 Rugby World Cup. He reached his 100th cap on 11 March 2017 when Romania played against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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Records

Vlaicu set a series of records during his career. He is the most-capped Romanian player at international level with 129 caps, as well as the all-time caps leader from what World Rugby calls an "emerging nation"—defined in men's rugby as those outside of The Rugby Championship or

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

. When he retired in 2022 he was the sixth leading top point scorer in international rugby, with 1030 points. Florin is also the most prolific point scorer for Romania at the

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

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 ** Winner (3): 2006, 2007, 2019 ; RCM Timișoara * Romanian Cup ** Winner: 2011RCM Timişoara a cîştigat Cupa României la rugby
/ref> ; CSM București * Romanian Cup ** Winner: 2018

International

;

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

* 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 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2015 Rugby World Cup players