Bucharest (AFP) – Former France international Thomas Lievremont has been sacked as coach of Romania after winning just one of three matches in November, the national federation announced on Friday.
Olivier Rieg, the fitness coach, has also been axed.
“This decision is explained by the non-respect of several contractual clauses, taken on by the two coaches, which did not allow us to reach the performance objectives agreed by World Rugby and the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR),” read a statement on the FRR website.
A source within the FRR told AFP that Lievremont, who was only appointed in September with the intention of taking Romania through to the 2023 World Cup, “had committed to win three victories in November”.
Instead, Romania achieved a single win, beating Portugal 36-6 in the Rugby Europe Championship before going down 31-5 to the USA and 27-20 to Uruguay.
Romania will miss the 2019 World Cup in Japan following a scandal in their European qualifying group.
“I want to bring back the smile of all those who love rugby in this country,” Lievremont said at the time of his appointment. “We cannot forget what happened, but we have to focus on the future and on the World Cup in 2023.”
As a player, Lievremont won the French national championship three times with Biarritz (2002, 2005 and 2006) and captained the club in the 2006 European Cup final. He was part of the French team that finished runner-up in the 1999 World Cup, going on to win 37 caps for Les Bleus.
He is the younger brother of Marc Lievremont, who coached France from 2007 to 2011.
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