RUGBY WORLD CUP: England v Romania, Pool B

24.09.2011

Venue: Otago Stadium, Dunedin

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Preview
England will win this game. For all Romania’s courage against Scotland, a well organised team like Argentina eventually prevailed. Much the same will happen today except more. Teams like Argentina and England can up another gear from their last performance. For the minor teams they are already at top gear. This is why in the second and now third games of pool rounds the fancied teams (South Africa 87 against Namibia, Australia 76 against USA) are beginning to pull away from such opponents.

Romania has made many changes from the team that played Argentina. They put basically the same team on the paddock for the first two games and now must rest key players. This will play into England’s hands and they should win comfortably.

Previous Encounters
17.11.2001 England 134-0 at Twickenham
12.11.1994 England 54-3 at Twickenham
13.05.1989 England 58-3 in Bucharest
05.01.1985 England 22-15 in Bucharest

England At This World Cup
10.09.2011 v Argentina W 13-9 in Dunedin
18.09.2011 v Georgia W 41-10 in Dunedin

Romania At This World Cup
10.09.2011 v Scotland L 24-34 in Invercargill
17.09.2011 v Argentina L 8-43 in Invercargill

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-England 7th, Romania 18th
Europe Table-England 5th, Romania 8th

IRB Ranking Points
England 83.99, Romania 65.69

Prediction: England by 48 points

Teams

England
15 Benjamin Foden, 14 Christopher Ashton, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Michael Tindall, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Benjamin Youngs, 8 James Haskell, 7 Lewis Moody, Capt. 6 Thomas Croft, 5 Thomas Palmer, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Steven Thompson, 1 Alexander Corbisiero.
Replacements
16 Lee Mears, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Thomas Wood, 20 Richard Wigglesworth, 21 Tobias Flood, 22 Delon Armitage
Head Coach: Martin Johnson

Romania
15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Stefan Ciuntu, 13 Ionel Cazan, 12 Iulian Dumitras, 11 Adrian Apostol, 10 Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Cosmin Ratiu, 6 Sandu Burcea, 5 Cristian Petre, Capt. 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Silviu Florea, 2 Bogdan Zebega,
1 Nicolae Nere.
Replacements
16 Marius Tincu, 17 Paulica Ion, 18 Mihai Macovei, 19 Daniel Ianus, 20 Valentin Calafeteanu, 21 Csaba Minya Gal, 22 Catalin Nicolae
Head Coach: Romeo Gontineac