RUGBY WORLD CUP Scotland Take On The Oaks

10.09.2011
Scotland v Romania in Invercargill (World Cup, Pool B)

Venue: Rugby Park

Referee: David Pearson (England)

Preview
Southlander's can turn their focus away from their loss recently of the Ranfurly Shield, New Zealand's premier provincial rugby trophy, and onto the Rugby World Cup road show about to hit town.

Romania has recorded two wins against Scotland in previous encounters. They would need to field their best team, play like they have never played before and catch Scotland on a bad day to win. A win to Romania is unlikely but not impossible. What a shock a Romanian win would create. Probably every tournament needs a shock win.

Scotland comes into this tournament with recent wins against Ireland and Italy. Prior to that Scotland had a miserable 6 Nations tournament, defeating Italy to prevent another wooden spoon. This could well be the time for them to do the best at any World Cup tournament so far.

Last Five Encounters
18.09.2007 Scotland 42-0 at Murrayfield (World Cup, Pool C)
11.11.2006 Scotland 48-6 at Murrayfield
05.06.2005 Scotland 39-39 in Bucharest
09.11.2002 Scotland 37-10 at Murrayfield
28.08.1999 Scotland 60-19 at Murrayfield

Argentina defeated Scotland 18-12 in Bucharest in 1991 and 28-22, also in Bucharest, back in 1982

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Scotland 4th, Romania 18th
Europe Table-Scotland 1st, Romania 8th

IRB Ranking Points
Scotland 78.83, Romania 65.69

Prediction: Scotland by 22 points

 Teams








Scotland
15 Christopher Paterson, 14 Max Evans, 13 Joseph Ansbro, 12 Sean Lamont, 11 Simon Danielli,
10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Michael Blair, 8 Richard Vernon, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock, Capt, 4 Richard Gray, 3 Geoffrey Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements
16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Nathan Hines, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 Christopher Cusiter,
21 Daniel Parks, 22 Rory Lamont.
Head Coach: Andy Robinson










Romania
15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Stefan Ciuntu, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Ionut Dimofte, 11 Madalin Lemnaru, 10 Danut Dumbrava, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Mihai Macovei, 5 Cristian Petre, 4 Valentin Ursache, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Marius Tincu, Capt. 1 Mihaita Lazar.
Replacements
16 Bogdan Zebega, 17 Silviu Florea, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Stelian Burcea, 20 Florin Surugiu, 21 Ionel Cazan, 22 Florin Vlaicu
Head Coach: Romeo Gontineac