Firstly, the smaller point. WI Romania was added to the Five Nations (as it was then) during the 80s? According to The Genocide they were both rumoured to be interested and invited. Would Rugby in Romania have survived the overthrow of Ceausescu and subsequent events better? Perhaps ITTL Romania would be where Italy are in Rugby today, or even more advanced. With a seven nations being impractical, where would that leave Italy?
Also, what POD or PODs could trigger Rugby Union being popular (as popular as ti is at least in England, huge man points for as popular as it is in South Wales) in the USSR, with the possibility of it being a reasonable power (world top ten)? Would this mean things like an earlier Rugby World Cup? Or other things ...
Custard Cream Monster
If I remember rightly from news reports of the time I think a sizeable number of the Romanian squad were actually killed in the revolution, supporting it. That gave rugby a big short term hit and probably the economic and political problems in the country since haven't helped.
Possibly if they had become members of the 6 Nations, as it would have become, that might have helped maintain it as the sport would have gained publicity and revenue, along with possibly some for the nation as a whole. Would also have given the country more publicity, of a generally favourable sort and hence possibly more funding to help out.
I notice Georgia and Russia both have RU teams, although not particularly strong, but don't think it's placed elsewhere in eastern Europe?
The answer to Italy joining the competition if Romania already in it would I suggest to have invited in 1 or 3 other nations and have two divisions, one up one down. This would also have the advantage that new nations, such as Italy in its 1st seasons, aren't always going against the top northern nations and getting hammered regularly, which would probably help the sport develop. At the same time it would allow them, if they came at the top of their division, to get exposure to rugby at a higher level.
When there was some talk of Argentina joining the competition a couple of years back I would have loved to have seen this happen, with a couple of other nations join. Would have given useful benefits. I fear the problem is that the existing main powers don't think the idea that a bad season and they have to spend a year in the 2nd division.
Steve