Romania’s reduced circumstances mask proud history allied with France

Michael Wiringi is one of four overseas-born players in Romania’s Rugby World Cup squad and he joins a nation with a proud history that makes the recent decline more poignantAmong the 31 men in Romania’s squad is Michael Wiringi, a 30-year-old born and raised in Hawera, on the west coast of New Zealand’s north island. “A small-town boy that’s been given a huge opportunity”, as he says himself.In 2011, Wiringi answered an advert in his local paper placed by the semi-pro club Baia Mare, based 400 miles north of Bucharest. They were calling for overseas recruits. He got an email back inviting him…