CS Dinamo București (rugby union)

Dinamo București
Full name	Clubul Sportiv Dinamo București
Nickname(s)	Bulldogii (The Bulldogs) ; Alb-roșii (The White and Reds)
Founded	1949; 75 years ago
Location	Bucharest, Romania
Ground(s)	Stadionul Arcul de Triumf (Capacity: 8,207)
President	Ionuț-Adrian Popa
Coach(es)	Sosene Anesi
Captain(s)	Ovidiu Cojocaru
League(s)	Liga de Rugby Kaufland
2023 Liga Națională de Rugby season	1st
1st kit	2nd kit

CS Dinamo București is a professional Romanian rugby union club from Bucharest, which plays in the Liga Națională de Rugby, the first division of Romanian rugby. They are the second most successful rugby union team in Romania with 16 championship titles, 13 cup titles and even a Champions League title to their name. After a pause of 15 years, Dinamo won the 2023 Liga Națională de Rugby season, denying rival CSM Știința Baia Mare a 5th historic consecutive title.

History[edit]

The Dinamo București rugby club was founded in 1949, under the wing of the CS Dinamo București sports club that had been founded by the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs the previous year.

Along with Steaua București and Grivița Roșie București (their two local-town rivals), they had dominated the 1950`s scene in Romanian rugby as they won 3 Romanian Championships in 1951, 1952 and 1956, while also winning the Romanian cup twice in 1954 and in 1959.

Located in the nation’s capital, Bucharest, the Dinamo București side had traditionally consisted of members drawn from the ranks of the civil service and/or police. Along with the army side, Steaua, the Dinamo team is one of the nation’s top rugby union outfits.

Dinamo won their most recent title in the 2023 Liga Națională de Rugby season, defeating CSM Știința Baia Mare 17-13. Their only try was scored by the centre Mihai Graure, while four penalties were successfully executed by Jondre Williams.^[1]

Honours[edit]

Domestic[edit]

Liga Națională de Rugby
- Winners (17): 1951, 1952, 1956, 1965, 1969, 1982, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2023
- Runners-up (2): 2003, 2005

Cupa României
- Winners (13): 1954, 1959, 1980, 1989, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2023
- Runners-up (2): 1981, 2005

European[edit]

Champions League (rugby)
- Winners (1): 1967

Current squad[edit]

Dinamo București Liga de Rugby Kaufland squad
Props Alexandru Gordaș Cosmin Manole Shota Nachkebia Bogdan Neacșu JP Smith Justin Theys Dorin Tică Hookers Ovidiu Cojocaru (c) Sergiu Puescu Rohan Schwartz Locks Simon Dionisio Lunga Ncube Marcel Rusu Sailasa Turagaluvu Johan van Heerden	Back row Cristi Chirică Eduard Cioroabă Keanan Murray Kamil Sobota Etienne Terblanche Scrum-halves Robert Ionașcu TC Kisting Jondré Williams Fly-halves Tudor Boldor Godwin Silvanus	Centres Mihai Graure Joe Perez Santiago Werkalec Wings Damian Bonaparte Malcolm Jaer Dylan Schwartz Fullbacks Ovidiu Neagu Hinckley Vaovasa

(c) denotes the team captain, Bold denotes internationally capped players. ^* denotes players qualified to play for Romania on residency or dual nationality.