Brendan Gallagher

Brendan Gallagher: The Romanian who stood tall for his country

You bump into some huge human beings on the rugby circuit, but I’ve encountered few bigger than Romanian lock Constantin Cojocariu, who died this week aged just 60.

by
Brendan Gallagher
15 March 2026

You bump into some huge human beings on the rugby circuit, but I’ve encountered few bigger than Romanian lock Constantin Cojocariu, who died this week aged just 60.
The giant lock, below, was laughably listed at 6ft 7inches and a mere 120kg in the 1995 World Cup programme, but when I looked in on Romanian training one morning, he was at least 20kg heavier and probably another inch and a bit taller. He was a very large unit indeed.
He was Will Skeleton big and actually, at his peak, which was probably a few years earlier, that was a pretty good analogy generally.
For such a big man, he was ...

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