Alexandru Penciu

Who is Alexandru Penciu?

Alexandru Penciu is a former Romanian rugby union player and coach whose role was fullback. Amongst the best players of Romania, he was nicknamed "Alexander the Great" in his home country.

Penciu started his youth career at Petrolul Ploieşti, in 1946/47. He moved soon to PPT Bucharest, where he played from 1948/49 to 1950/51, and was promoted to the first category. He was assigned to CAA, later called CSA Steaua Bucureşti, the Romanian Army team, in 1952/53, where he would stay until 1968/69. He won 5 titles of the Romanian Championship, in 1952/53, 1953/54, 1960/61, 1962/63 and 1963/64. He was allowed to move to Rugby Rovigo Delta, in Italy, in 1969/70, where he would finish his player career in 1973/74, aged 41 years old. He took charge at Rugby Rovigo as player-coach at 1970/71, being the top scorer of the Italian Championship twice, in 1970/71 and 1971/72.

Romania was then living his first "Golden Era" of rugby and was often considered the best European team, outside the Five Nations Championship. Penciu would be one of the most emblematic players of this era, winning 34 full caps for Romania and scoring 2 conversions, 7 penalties and 4 drop goals, 37 points in aggregate.