POOL B – ENGLAND vs ROMANIA
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin, Saturday 24th Sep 6pm (NZT)
Head-to-head: Played 4, England 4, Romania 0
Last meeting: England 134 beat Romania 0 in London 2001
Last meeting at a World Cup: First meeting
Team news: England welcome back the experienced Mike Tindall and Jonny Wilkinson at inside center and fly half respectively, the duo have replaced Shontayne Hape and Toby Flood in the key positions. Mark Cueto has been given a chance to show his wares in the place of Delon Armitage. Cueto will hope to put in a standout performance and force his way into the team which will face Scotland. Romanian coach Romeo Gontineac has made eleven changes in what seems to be a common ploy for the tier two nations when they play the bigger boys. Gontineac has denied that he has named a weakened team with a view to saving players for their big clash with Georgia. Lock Cristian Petre is the only player to survive from the game against Argentina, he has also taken the captains armband with Marius Tincu dropping to the bench.
Form: England’s 36-10 win over Georgia shows how much the team is struggling for form. The off-field distractions can not be helping, but its no excuse for a top class side that should be putting big scores past the minnows. Naming an experienced side should go a long way to rediscovering the form England showed in the build-up to the tournament. Romania went down 43-8 to Argentina in their last outing, but the Tall Oaks played their hearts out in what was an attractive game of rugby. Like Georgia did, the Romanian’s will put a lot of players into the ruck and try to slow down the English. A dangerous ploy, but one that can pay dividends if done well.
Prediction: Once again England will go into the match as favourites, but Martin Johnson will hope his troops do not let that go to the players heads. A win here will guarantee England’s passage through to the knockout stages of the World Cup and that will be enough to ge the English up. But if they play like they did against Georgia they will struggle to put the Romanian’s away.
England by 50
Teams:
England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Mike Tindall, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Tom Wood, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Delon Armitage.
Romania: 15 Florin Adrian Vlaicu, 14 Stefan Eugen Ciuntu, 13 Ionel Cazan, 12 Iulian Dumitras, 11 Adrian Marian Apostol, 10 Marin Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Mihai Sirbu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Cosmin Aurel Ratiu, 6 Sandu Stelian Burcea, 5 Cristian Constantin Petre (capt), 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Bogdan Zebega Suman, 1 Nicolae Nere.
Replacements: 16 Marius Tincu, 17 Paulica Ion, 18 Mihai Macovei, 19 Daniel Gabriel Ianus, 20 Valentin Nicolae Calafeteanu, 21 Csaba Minya Gal, 22 Catalin Marius Nicolae.
By Alex Barlow-Smith