Place of birth Bârlad, Romania Years Club / team Apps (points) Weight 109 kg | Position Flanker Club / team Apps Height 1.95 m | |
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Date of birth (1980-08-06) 6 August 1980 (age 36) | ||
Ovidiu Toniţa (born August 6, 1980) is a Romanian rugby union footballer. A former lock and presently a flanker and number 8, he plays for the French side Provence and for the Romanian national team. He played the majority of his career for USA Perpignan. He is noted for his size, which is considered unusual for his position on the field. His supporters are known to have compared him to the Australian footballer John Eales, and he is often seen as Romania's key player.
Born in Bârlad, Toniţa worked as a soft drinks distributor for The Coca-Cola Company from age 15, and played rugby as an amateur in his native country. He moved to France, where he played in the Top 14, originally for FC Grenoble (2001–2002), and later for Biarritz Olympique (2002–2004).
In 1999, at the age of 19, he made his international debut as a reserve for the Romanian national team, being one of the youngest players at the 1999 Rugby World Cup. His test debut was against Morocco national team in 2000. He won his first 14 caps as a lock, and established himself as a flanker after moving to Perpignan.
He was included in Romania's squad at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He was injured for three months in early 2005 and took part in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, where he was Romania's vice-captain. During the latter event, as Romania prepared to face the Scotland, Toniţa was deemed "perhaps (Romania's) one world-class player" in a Scotsman article. An analysis of the Romanian squad, published by The West Australian, noted that Toniţa "is a class act in the scrum", while arguing that, given Romania's poor results: "The sad thing for him is that he is playing with the wrong generation of players." He also competed at the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups. In a testimony to both the length of his top-level career and his country's lack of World Cup success, Toniţa set a new record at the 2015 World Cup by participating in his 12th losing World Cup match, surpassing the previous record of 11 held by his countryman Romeo Gontineac and Namibian Hugo Horn.
