Rugby in Bucharest

We spent a great two days in Bucharest with our brother-in-law Dr Jonathan Hanson, who is the doctor of the Scotland A rugby team who were playing a tournament in Romania.

We were virtually the only Scots there outside the touring party and we stayed in the same hotel as the team. The boys got to mix with the team and to go into the team room with the players. We also spent time with the referees, including Marius Jonker who is South African and one of the top referees in the world. The photo below is of the boys with Ally Hogg the Scotland A captain.

Scotland managed to lose their first game against Georgia who celebrated like they had won the cup. Good luck to them. They played, as you would expect from Georgians, with great heart.

We made sure that Scotland were well supported with both flags and vuvuzelas (a nice South African touch there). The children also enjoyed meeting the Romanian mascot.

As part of the medical care for the team, they go to a swimming pool after tough training or a match, in order to have gentle recovery. Usually this is a 20-30 minute session and then back to the hotel.

However the pool in Bucharest is a huge outdoor public pool where many of the local beauties go topless. It was either that or the 40 degree heat, but for whatever the reason, the players were quite happy to stay in the pool for several hours.

We also managed to catch up with a friend of mine, Sotos Marianidis who is the General Manager of P&G in the Balkans and who lives in Bucharest. It was wonderful to see him and his wife Angela and to get the local insights on the best places to eat in Bucharest which we were able to pass on to various members of the rugby touring party. Thanks Sotos!