Cătălin Fercu (born 5 September 1986) is a Romanian rugby union player. He has played in 77 international matches for Romania scoring 28 tries and one penalty kick. Fercu plays at the fullback and wing positions.
29-540: He previously played for RC Timişoara , and made his European debut season in the 2005/2006 season as Bucharest played in the European Challenge Cup . Having scored a try in his first season better was to come in his second year in Europe scoring six tries in the group stages a great achievement however it was not enough to get Bucharest through their group and this prevented Fercu from potentially being
58-545: A game that the Springboks went on to win 52–23 and in which he also scored a try. Williams was on the Springboks team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup , notably scoring four tries against Western Samoa in the quarter-finals. His Boks career, hampered by knee injuries in 1996 and 1997, ended with a 23–13 win against Wales on 26 November 2000 in Cardiff . In total he played 27 games for the Springboks, scoring 14 tries and
87-683: 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. In January 2012, former Springbok Chester Williams (the only non-white player in South Africa's winning 1995 Rugby World Cup team) joined Timișoara Saracens as head coach. His first attempt to get involved with Romanian rugby
116-640: A total of 70 points. His honours included a Currie Cup win in 1999, with the Golden Lions , a Tri-Nations title in 1998 (albeit that he only made two short appearances as substitute) and the World Cup win in 1995. Domestically, Williams played rugby with the Western Province , appearing 63 times between 1991 and 1998, wearing jersey number 11. He then went on to win the Currie Cup with
145-604: The 2002 Commonwealth Games and ended runners up in the World Sevens Series . He remained sevens coach until 2003. Despite having almost no experience at coaching the fifteen-man code at any senior level, Williams was mentioned as one of the possible successors to Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli after he resigned in 2003, but the job was given to Jake White in 2004. He became coach of the Cats Super 12 team instead. He remained coach until July 2005 when he
174-520: The Golden Lions in 1999. World Cup Final In 2002, Williams released his controversial authorised biography, simply titled Chester , in which he claimed that he was shunned by some of his team mates in the 1995 Springbok squad and was called racist names by James Small , though he later clarified, "When we were together as a team, the team-spirit was good. We partied together, we had fun together, we stuck by one another. Those other things happened while we were playing against one another in
203-615: The Wembley Stadium in London , England , in front of a world record breaking assistance of 84,068. This biographical article relating to Romanian rugby union is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . RC Timi%C5%9Foara SCM Rugby Timișoara is a professional Romanian rugby union club from Timișoara , which plays in the Liga Națională de Rugby , the first division of Romanian rugby. The team first won
232-654: The Western Province in the Currie Cup . After retiring, Williams pursued a career in coaching, including a spell with the South Africa national rugby sevens team , the Uganda national rugby union team , and the University of the Western Cape . He was portrayed by McNeil Hendricks in the 2009 Clint Eastwood film Invictus , a biographical sports drama film about the events in South Africa before and during
261-409: The 1995 Rugby World Cup, and he also helped to coach Matt Damon and other actors for the rugby scenes used in the film. Williams died from a suspected heart attack on 6 September 2019 at the age of 49. Williams is best known as the star winger of the South Africa national Springbok team that won the 1995 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand and was nicknamed "The Black Pearl". Williams was selected in
290-550: The 2007 Rugby World Cup as he played in the qualifier matches including the vital games against Georgia and Spain and scored a try against Spain in the game that sealed their qualification to the Rugby World Cup . Fercu was a late withdrawal from their Rugby World Cup squad because he was not prepared to fly all the way to New Zealand. The Romanian side arrived in Christchurch to prepare for their first game of
319-451: The 2023-24 season is approximately 1,910,000 Euros . 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. Starting with
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#1732802040543348-576: The Currie Cup or domestic competitions. But that's in the past now. We have all moved on and everybody's happy." Clint Eastwood directed Invictus , which is about the 1995 Rugby World Cup and how it helped South Africa heal after years of apartheid . It features many scenes involving Chester, portrayed by McNeil Hendricks , including his face on the side of an SAA aeroplane. It also showed several scenes showing black children in South Africa idolising him, although author John Carlin has questioned
377-683: The Romanian Cup for the first time, after a 32–10 victory against CSM Stiinţa Baia-Mare . The match took place in Alba Iulia , 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 , and went on to repeat their cup success in 2015 and 2016. In 2011, Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT finished in 3rd place. After losing 22–24 to CSM Știința Baia Mare in
406-473: The Springboks squad since Errol Tobias and his uncle Avril Williams in the early 1980s. The selection of non-white players was not common in South Africa before 1992 because of the country's policy of apartheid , and there were separate governing bodies for whites, blacks, and coloureds. He made his debut for the Springboks at the age of 23 against Argentina on 13 November 1993 in Buenos Aires ,
435-423: The accuracy of this as Williams in fact identified as coloured rather than black. Carlin also wrote that during the team's visit to a township, Mark Andrews had attracted more attention than Williams as he was able to speak Xhosa . Williams himself worked as one of the film's rugby coaches, alongside Dubai-based coach Rudolf de Wee, a childhood friend whom he recruited to the film. Williams and de Wee worked with
464-635: The actors, including Matt Damon , in recreating the games depicted in the film. Williams was selected to carry the Olympic torch on behalf of South Africa on two occasions, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In 2010, Williams completed the Absa Cape Epic mountain bike stage race, joining several former Springbok Rugby players who have also taken on
493-627: The championship in 1972, becoming the first club outside Bucharest 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 -based Saracens rugby club. In 2020, the club's partnership with London -based Saracens rugby club ended making them change their identity to SCM Rugby Timișoara. SCM Rugby Timisoara`s annual operating budget for
522-407: The initial squad, but had to withdraw due to injury. He was later called back into the squad and played in the quarter-final, scoring four tries, followed by the semi-final and the final against New Zealand , which South Africa won 15–12. Williams was 1.74 metres (5 feet 9 inches) tall with a playing weight of 84 kilograms (185 lb). He was the first non-white player to be included in
551-569: The rugged challenge of the Untamed African MTB Race . Williams died on 6 September 2019, at the age of 49, from a suspected heart attack. He was the fourth player from the 1995 world-cup-winning side to die, after Ruben Kruger , Joost van der Westhuizen , and James Small , the last having died two months before Williams. In 2001 Williams was selected as the coach of the South African sevens team that won bronze at
580-523: The semifinals of the Romanian Rugby Championship , the team from Timișoara 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
609-701: 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. Props Hookers Locks Back row Scrum-halves Fly-halves Centres Wings Fullbacks Chester Williams Chester Mornay Williams (8 August 1970 – 6 September 2019)
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#1732802040543638-688: 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
667-593: The tournament against Scotland in Invercargill on 10 September without Fercu, who failed to get on the plane when it left Romania . Fercu has been a player for Saracens since October 2014. He played in the winning Aviva A League team, Saracens Storm, as well as for the Saracens LV Cup winning team. On 28 March 2015, he made his debut in the Aviva Premiership against Harlequins 42-14 at
696-513: The tournaments top try scorer. Such notable achievements in the 2006/2007 European Challenge Cup include a hat-trick of tries against French side Bayonne . Fercu has also already made appearances on the international stage even at his young age and he played against France and Scotland in the Autumn internationals in 2006. He also scored a try against the French. Fercu helped guide Romania to
725-471: 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
754-454: 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 1995 Rugby World Cup , which was hosted in South Africa. He was the only non-white player on the team. During the tournament he scored four tries for South Africa in its quarter-final match and also appeared in the semi-final and final. Domestically he played rugby for
783-717: Was being the technical director for CS Dinamo București . He was close to taking over the bench of Timișoara in the summer of 2011, but negotiations were put to a hold because of the World Cup that was taking place in New Zealand . 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. In 2011, Timișoara Saracens RCM UVT won
812-619: Was fired after a series of poor results, when the Cats finished next-to-last in the 2005 super 12, achieving only one victory. However, in 2006, he was brought back into the South African coaching ranks as the head coach of the national "A" side (a developmental side for the Boks). Also in 2006, he spent a successful few months as coach of the Uganda national rugby union team , the Cranes. He
841-476: Was named as the new coach of the Pumas , the team representing Mpumalanga in the Currie Cup, on 7 September 2006. He signed a two-year deal with the team, effective 1 October 2006, but resigned as coach in mid-2007. When White stepped down as the national coach in 2008, Williams was again in the running to replace him, but the job instead went to Peter de Villiers . Williams lastly was head coach of University of
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