EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP: Romania v Portugal

05.02.2011
Romania v Portugal in Lisbon (ENC 1A)

Venue: Estádio Universitário de Lisboa

Referee: D.Jones (Wales)

Preview
Romania travel to Lisbon missing a good number of their top players out with injury or suspension. There are enough experienced players to fill the gaps but Romania will not be at their best.

Portugal look to have a reasonably strong side with only a few top players missing. Playing on their home turf I’d expect the Portuguese to go all out to win this game. To get anywhere near the three leading teams Portugal must win their home games.

Last Five Encounters
20.03.2010 Romania 20-9 in Lisbon (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
21.03.2009 Portugal 22-21 in Bucharest (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
08.03.2008 Romania 21-15 in Bucharest (ENC 1)
01.12.2007 Romania 23-8 in Lisbon (ENC 1)
25.09.2007 Romania 14-10 in Toulouse (World Cup, Pool C)

GWC Rugby Rankings:
World Table-Portugal 18th, Romania 21st
Europe Table-Romania 7th, Portugal 10th

IRB Ranking Points
Romania 65.54, Portugal 60.94

Prediction: Romania by 7 points

Teams

Romania Squad

Full backs
Florin Vlaicu (Steaua Bucaresti) Age 24, 30 tests
Iulian Dumitras (Lourdes, France) 28, 41

Wings
Catalin Fercu (Timisoara) 24, 34
Lemnaru Madalin (Timisoara) 21, 4
Catalin Nicolae (RCJ Constanta Farul) 30, 13
Ionut Botezatu (Baia Mare) 23, 11

Centres
Csaba Gal (Baia Mare) 25, 24
Robert Dascalu (Steaua Bucaresti) 26, 26
Constantin Gheara (RCJ Constanta Farul) ?, 7
Ionel Cazan (Steaua Bucaresti) 22, 1

Fly-halves
Danut Dumbrava (Steaua) 29, 48
Gabriel Conache (Timisoara) New cap

Scrum-halves
Valentin Calafeteanu (Timisoara) 26, 27
Florin Surugiu (CSM Bucaresti) 26, 3

Loose Forwards
Stelian Burcea (Timisoara) 27, 25
Daniel Carpo (RCJ Constanta Farul) 26, 18
Mihai Macovei (CSM Baia Mare) 24, 14
Ovidiu Tonita (Perpignan, France) 30, 53
Daniel Ianus (Steaua Bucuresti) 23, 4
Viorel Lucaci (Steaua Bucaresti) New cap

Lock Forwards
Cristian Petre (Saint Etienne, France) 31, 68
Marian Drenceanu (Timisoara) New cap
Valentin Poparlan (CSM Bucuresti) 24, 18
Marius Sirbe (Tarbes, France) 23, 4

Props
Cezar Popescu (Macon, France) 34, 39
Bogdan Balan (Lyon, France) 30, 28
Mihai Lazar (Aix En Provence, France) 24, 10
Samuel Maris (Timisoara) 24, 4

Hookers
Bogdan Zebega (Steaua Bucuresti) 25, 20
Catalin Beca (CSM Bucuresti) 25, 5

http://frr.ro/2011/01/28/stejarii-se-reunesc-pentru-meciul-cu-portugalia/

Not Selected-Injured or otherwise.
Lucian Sirbu (injury) 61 tests
Sorin Socol (suspended) 54 and captain
Petrişor Toderaşc 46
Ionut Dimofte (injured) 45
Paulica Ion 39
Marius Tincu (injury) 38
Alexandru Manta 32
Dragos Dima 31
Valentin Ursache 27 (injured)
Stefan Ciuntu 23
Andrei Rădoi (allergy) 6
Mihai Bageag (Grauhlet, France) New cap (Passport)

Poparlan last played v Georgia, March 2009
Beca last played v Portugal, March 2009

Portugal
15 - Pedro Leal (GD Direito) Agee 26, 43 tests
14 - Gonçalo Foro (CD University Lisboa) 28, 22
13 - Frederico Oliveira (CD University Lisboa) 22, 8
12 - Pedro Silva (CF Belenenses) 26, 16
11 - António Aguilar (GD Direito) 32, 59
10 - Joe Gardener (Aubenas) ?, 8
9 - José Pinto (GD Direito) 29, 48
8 - Juan Severino (AEISA Agronomia) 29, 31
7 - Julien Bardy (Clermont Ferrand, France) 25, 5
6 - Vasco Uva (GD Direito) 28, 61
5 - Gonçalo Uva (Montpellier, France) 26, 49
4 - Eduardo Acosta (GD Direito) 32, 13
3 - Anthony Alves (Montauban, France) 2
2 - João Correia, Captain (GD Direito) 32, 54
1 - Juan Murre (El Salvador) 29, 17
Replacements
16 - Lionel Campergue (Pau, France) 23, 1
17 - João Junior (CD University Lisboa) 24, 11
18 - Tiago Girão (CD University Lisboa) 26, 28
19 - Laurent Balangue (Colomiers, France) 22, 1
20 - Pedro Cabral (CD University Lisboa) 27, 27
21 - Francisco Mira (AEISA Agronomia) ?, 8
22 - José Lima (AEISA Agronomia) ?, 2

http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3682

Data for caps taken from http://www.espnscrum.com/statsguru/rugby/match/123259.html although scrum.com do not identify who replaced whom for Portugal in their last game v Canada. The data affected is for João Junior, Eduardo Acosta, Laurent Balangue, Pedro Cabal and Francisco Mira.

Not Selected-Injury or otherwise
Christian Spachuk
Francisco Fernandes
Mateus brothers
Duarte C Pinto
David Penalva

Milestones
Gonçalo Uva will play his 50^th test for Portugal.