Match Preview: Scotland stand ready for Romania at Invercargill - Rugby News
Scotland will be feeling lucky to be placed in Pool B and especially with the schedule they have at the Rugby World Cup 2011. The Scots will start their Rugby World Cup 2011 campaign on September 10 when they face the underdog Romanians and the the meagre
side of Georgia in their second competition. They could easily seal two consecutive victories right in the start of the tournament with a little bit of effort which will enhance their chances to reserve a berth for the quarter-final stages.
Scotland is in good form after winning three consecutive games including the last game of the Six Nations Championship 2011. They dumped Italy and Ireland in their warm-up matches by praiseworthy efforts and alarmed the top sides of rugby world for RWC 2011.
Romania has been participating in the Webb Ellis Trophies since the very first event of 1987 and has managed to bag a victory in every tournament. They maybe looking to do the same on game day but the motivated Scottish side would not give them an easy opportunity
to do so unless they produce a miraculous performance.
The sides have faced each other in 12 matches so far and Scotland managed to carry the day on most occasions. Scotland won 10 out of 12 matches and produced a splendid ratio of 83.33 percent victories against Romania. Scotland produced its best performance
against Romania with a lofty win of 60-19 whereas Romania’s best effort was quite ordinary against Scotland with an average victory of 18-12.
Romania had scored 168 points in its all matches against Scotland whereas Scotland is ahead with 441. Furthermore, Scotland has defeated Romania in the last three matches by a respectable margin. The sides last met in 2007 in Edinburgh and Scotland thumped
the Romanians by an insulting difference of 42-0.
Talking about their up coming clash against Scotland, Romania’s assistant coach admitted that his team will be required to put a big effort to give a tough time to Scotland. He added that, “Scotland play a physical game which tends to suit us. We've been
working on our set play. We want to be able to hold our own ball and get good set ball. It certainly is a focus for us to do well there. The last World Cup we saw a few teams not perform so well, especially in the first match. So if they get us on our good
day and we get them on their bad day, it would be nice to have an upset.”
Chris Paterson, Alastair Kellock and Allan Jacobsen will be the players to watch for Scotland. Meanwhile, Iulian Dumitras, Stefan Eugen Ciuntu and Csaba Minya Gal will have to play exceptionally well for Romania to make the clash interesting.
Scotland: 15 Chris Paterson, 14 Max Evans, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Simon Danielli, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Richie Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (c), 4 Richie Gray, 3 Geoff
Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Dan Parks, 22 Rory Lamont.
Romania: 15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Stefan Eugen Ciuntu, 13 Csaba Minya Gal, 12 Tiberius Ionut Dimofte, 11 Madalin Vlad Lemnaru, 10 Marin Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Mihai Sirbu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Mihai Macovei, 5 Cristian Constantin
Petre, 4 Valentin Neculai Ursache, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Marius Tincu (c), 1 Mihaita Alexandru Lazar.
Replacements: 16 Bogdan Zebega Suman, 17 Silviu Florea, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Sandu Stelian Burcea, 20 Florin Surugiu, 21 Ionel Cazan, 22 Florin Adrian Vlaicu.
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