Frenchman Thomas Lièvremont is the new head coach of Romania’s rugby team, the Romanian Rugby Federation announced on Wednesday, September 12. He will coach the Romanian players until after the World Rugby Cup in 2023.

“We have had a selection process for quite a long time, with applications from many coaches, even from some Romanian coaches. We decided that Thomas is best placed to win this contest for Romania's head coach,” federation president Alin Petrache said, according to local News.ro.

Thomas Lièvremont, 44, coached the US Dax team between 2008 and 2010 and then agreed to join Top 14 side Aviron Bayonne as forwards coach for the 2010–2011 season. Between 2015 and 2017, he was the manager of France's U20 team.

Romania qualified for the Rugby World Cup 2019 in mid-March after Spain suffered a surprise 18-10 loss to Belgium. However, they were later disqualified following a decision of the Independent Disputes Committee, which found that Romania had used one ineligible player on eight occasions during the 2017 and 2018 Rugby Europe Championships (of which six matches related to Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifying).

Romania won’t compete in Rugby World Cup after appeal dismissed

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Facebook / Romanian Rugby Federation)