Mircea Paraschiv


Mircea Paraschiv is a Romanian former rugby union player and coach. He played as a scrum-half. He is usually considered one of the best Romanian rugby footballers of all times.

Club career

He played for Dinamo București, from 1975/76 to 1986/87. He won the Romanian Rugby Championship in 1981/82.

International career

Paraschiv had 62 caps for Romania, from his debut in a 16–12 win over Spain, at 4 May 1975, in Madrid, for the 1974–75 FIRA Trophy, to his last game, a 49–3 loss to France, at 11 November 1987, in Agen for the 1987–89 FIRA Trophy. He scored 6 tries during his international career, 24 points on aggregate. He was his national team captain from 1976 to 1987.
He was player and assistant coach at the 1987 Rugby World Cup. He played as the captain in all the three games of the Romanian team, scoring a try in the 21–20 win over Zimbabwe, at 23 May 1987, in Auckland.
He became a full-time coach in 1988. He was the coach of Dinamo Bucharest, from 1990/91 to 2005/06.
Paraschiv was the head coach of Romania at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with Constantin Fugigi. Romania had three losses but achieved an honourable defeat of 21–8 to future champions South Africa. He was also the head coach at the 1999 Rugby World Cup, achieving a 27–25 win over the United States.
He was chosen as the coach of Farul Constanţa in 2010.
He is currently the single Romanian player inducted to the World Rugby Museum Wall of Fame, inaugurated in 2005 in Twickenham.