SCM Rugby Timișoara is a professional Romanian

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 ...

club from

Timișoara Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...

, which plays in the

Liga Națională de Rugby The Liga Națională de Rugby () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in Romania. In the 2023 season there are 14 teams competing. The competition was established in 1913 and is governed by the Romanian Rugby Federation ...

, the first division of Romanian rugby. The team first won the championship in 1972, becoming the first club outside

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

to achieve this performance. In the modern format of the SuperLiga, SCM Rugby Timișoara 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 London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

rugby club. In 2020, the club's partnership with

-based

rugby club ended making them change their identity to SCM Rugby Timișoara. SCM Rugby Timisoara`s annual operating budget for the 2023-24 season is approximately 1,910,000

Euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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 take a bow 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.

Previous club name

*CSU Timișoara *Știința Timișoara *Universitatea Timișoara *RCM Timișoara *RCM UVT Timișoara

Chester Williams Era

In January 2012, former Springbok

Chester Williams Chester Mornay Williams (8 August 1970 – 6 September 2019) was a South African rugby union player. He played as a winger for the South Africa national rugby union team (Springboks) from 1993 to 2000, most notably for the team that won the 19 ...

(the only non-white player in South Africa's winning

1995 Rugby World Cup The 1995 Rugby World Cup (), was the third Rugby World Cup. It was hosted and won by South Africa, and was the first Rugby World Cup in which every match was held in one country. The World Cup was the first major sporting event to take place in ...

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 CS Dinamo București (full name: Clubul Sportiv Dinamo București), or Dinamo for short, is a multi-sport club from Bucharest, Romania. History The club was founded in the spring of 1948, being subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior. F ...

. He was close to taking over the bench of

in the summer of 2011, but negotiations were put to a hold because of the World Cup that was taking place in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. 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 Alba Iulia (; or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; ; ) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the river Mureș (river), Mureș in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a ...

, 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 Cluj Arena () is a multi-purpose stadium in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. It serves as the home of FC Universitatea Cluj, Universitatea Cluj of the Liga I and was completed on 1 October 2011. It is also the home of the Untold Festival. The facility, owne ...

, 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 CSM Știința Baia Mare, commonly referred to as Știința Baia Mare (), is a Romanian professional rugby union club based in Baia Mare that competes in the Liga de Rugby Kaufland, Romania's top division of rugby. History Originally founded in ...

in the semifinals of the Romanian Rugby Championship, the team from

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. 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. During August 2020, it was announced that Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT will restart in the SuperLiga under the new name of SCM Timișoara Rugby.

Honours

Domestic

: **Winners (7): 1972, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017-2018,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

**Runner-up (2): 1973, 2019-2020 **Third Place (7): 1974, 1975, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2011, 2014 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

**Winners (5): 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

**Runner-up (4): 1978, 1980, 2018, 2019, 2022 *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

Notable former players

* Sosene Anesi * Stefano Clement Hunt *

Viliami Moala Viliami Alfred Moala ( ; March 30, 1993 – September 28, 2023) was an American football defensive tackle of Tongan descent. He played college football at California. Moala attended Grant Union High School in Del Paso Heights, Sacramento, Cal ...

* Hayden O`Donnell * Tom Cox * Brian Sefanaia * Kevin Luiters * Marzuq Maarman * Lötter Pretorius * Pieter Stemmet * Johan van Wyk * James Doyle * Thomas Whitehurst * Roberto Edmundo Tejerizo * Mesake Doge * Lemeki Nabalei * Henry Seniloli * Manasa Saulo * Michael Stewart * Edmund Aholelei * Paea Fonoifua * Sione Halalilo * Kefu Ikamanu * Semisi Mahe * Mateo Malupo * Samiu Muna * Sione Taupaki * Bidzina Shamkharadze * Petru Bălan * Ionel Badiu * Stelian Burcea * Valentin Calafeteanu * Daniel Carpo * Marian Drenceanu * Victor Dumitru * Daniel Ianuș * Marius Iftimiciuc * Paula Kinikinilau * Mădălin Lemnaru * Samuel Mariș * Ionel Melinte *

Randall Morrison Randall Morrison (born 12 February 1984 in East London) is a South African-born Romanian rugby union football player. He plays as a flanker for professional Liga Națională de Rugby club Știința Petroșani. Career Before joining Romanian Li ...

* Cristian Pană * Horațiu Pungea *

Jody Rose Jody Gavin Rose (born 29 July 1986) is a South African-born Romanian rugby union player. He plays in the fly-half position for amateur Liga Națională de Rugby club Știința Petroșani Știința Petroșani is a Romanian rugby union club curr ...

* Vasile Rus * Luke Samoa * Laurențiu Tănase * Alexandru Țăruș *

Jack Umaga Jack Umaga (born 18 June 1984) is a New Zealand-born Romanian rugby union football player. He plays in the wing or centre positions for amateur Liga Națională de Rugby club Știința Petroșani. He also played for Romania's national team, the ...

* Emiliano Calle Rivas * Henri Boshoff * Andrei Mahu * German Aranda

Former coaches

* Heikell Grainger * Matt Williams *

References

External links

RCM Timișoara
– Official club website * http://www.itsrugby.co.uk/team-timisoara.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Timisoara, SCM Rugby Rugby union teams in Romania Rugby clubs established in 1949 Saracens Global Network 1949 establishments in Romania