Rugby World Cup Game Preview - Romania vs Scotland
Rugby World Cup Game Preview - Romania vs Scotland
Scotland go into their opening Rugby World Cup match against Romania off the back of two encouraging victories against Ireland and Italy. The Scots have been drawn in Pool B alongside the old enemy England and rising stars Argentina. That makes Scotland's games against Georgia and Romania must-wins to keep their hopes to qualification for the knockout stages alive.
Scotland head coach Andy Robinson is in the fortunate position of having a number of key players coming into form at the same time giving him a few selection dilemmas across the field. Whilst it is clear that stalwarts such as Richie Gray and Chris Paterson have cemented their place in the team, other positions have required a little more thought.
At scrum-half Mike Blair, Rory Lawson and Chris Cusiter were vying for the 9 jersey, whilst Robinson had to choose between Ruaridh Jackson and Dan Parks at stand-off. Robinson also had to choose a centre pairing with Joe Ansboro, Nick De Luca, Graeme Robinson and Sean Lamont performing well.
In the end Robinson plumped for a good mix of youth and experience giving the likes of Jackson a chance to start during his first World Cup whilst selecting arguably his strongest pack. There is an air of experimentation on the wings with Evans and Danielli set to start, backed up by the indomitable experience of Paterson and full-back.
With only a few days between Scotland's games against Romania and Georgia respectively, it must be expected that Robinson will look to utilize the full strength of his squad over the first two games to avoid burn out or any unnecessary injuries before their first real test against Argentina.
The biggest worry for this Scotland team must be there poor scrummaging performance, which is an area Romania will surely look to exploit. However, Romanian assistant coach has indicated his team has been working on their set-plays in the hope of retaining more ball. Unfortunately though for the Romanians, winger Catalin Fercu has to withdraw due to his fear of flying.
Whatever the build up the match promises to be a good physical encounter with lots of potential for Scotland to show some of the flair from their warm-up games. On paper this should be a walkover for the Scots but as we know from previous experience, many big teams have stuttered in their opening games at World Cups ¦
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.
