Cristian Stoica

Cristian Stoica

Birth name	Cristian Alexandru Stoica
Date of birth	(1976-08-01) 1 August 1976
Place of birth	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	103 kg (227 lb; 16.2 st)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre Youth career 1984–1989 Steaua 1990–1995 Pavia Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1995–1996 Pavia () 1996–1997 Milan () 1997–2001 Narbonne () 2001–2002 Gloucester () 2002–2003 Castres 31 (30) 2003–2008 Montpellier 93 (75) 2009–2010 Mazamet 16 (5) International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1997–2007 Italy 71 (55)

Cristian Alexandru Stoica, also known as Alessandro Stoica (born 1 August 1976, in Bucharest) is a Romanian-Italian retired rugby union footballer, who played as a centre.

Career

Stoica played for the youth Steaua Bucharest team in his first years, from 1984/85 to 1988/89. He moved to Italy in 1989 with his family. He later became a naturalized Italian citizen. He played for CUS Pavia (1995/96), Amatori Rugby Milano (1996/97), in the National Championship of Excellence. He moved to France, where he would play for RC Narbonne (1997/01). He spent a season at Gloucester Rugby (2001/02), returning afterwards to France, where he played for Castres Olympique (2002/03), Montpellier Hérault (2003/08), where he won the European Shield in 2004, and SC Mazamet (2009/10), where he finished his career.

He had 71 caps for Italy, from 1997 to 2007, scoring 11 tries, 55 points on aggregate. He was called for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, playing in three games but without scoring. He was called once again for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, playing in three games.

He played in the Six Nations Championship from 2000 to 2006; he had 28 caps, with a try scored.

Honours

Club

Narbonne

• European Challenge Cup runner-up: 2000–01

Castres Olympique

• European Shield: 2002–03

Montpellier Hérault

• European Shield: 2003–04

External links

• Cristian Stoica at ESPNscrum