RUSSIA v ROMANIA: WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A

08.02.2014

Venue: Krasnodar

Referee: David Wilkinson (Ireland)

Preview
This is a clash between the number two and number three sides in this competition. Russia are effectively struggling to get past either Georgia or Romania to gain an automatic qualification to the 2015 Rugby World Cup finals. Russia’s record against Romania is not impressive but the Russians have dragged the Romanians into deepest Siberia. I still can’t see the Romanians losing but the score will be close.

Last Five Encounters
08.06.2013 Romania 30-20 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
09.02.2013 Romania 29-14 in Bucharest (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
25.02.2012 Romania 25-0 in Sochi (ENC 1A)
26.02.2011 Romania 33-3 in Bucharest (ENC 1A)
27.02.2010 Drawn 21-21 in Sochi (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)

Russia last defeated Romania in 2009, winning 28-19 in Bucharest, and last defeated Romania in Russia in 2008, winning 12-8 in Krasnodar

Russia Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
01.02.2014 v Spain W 28-25 in Madrid (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
23.11.2013 v United States L 7-28 in London
15.11.2013 v Japan L 13-40 in Colwyn Bay
16.06.2013 v Argentina ‘A’ L 17-30 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)
12.06.2013 v Emerging Italy L 19-27 in Bucharest (IRB Nations Cup)

Romania Last Five P 5, W 4, L 1
01.02.2014 v Portugal W 24-0 in Cluj (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1A)
23.11.2013 v Fiji L 7-26 in Bucharest
16.11.2013 v Canada W 21-20 in Bucharest
09.11.2013 v Tonga W 19-18 in Bucharest
16.06.2013 v Emerging Italy W 26-13 in Bucharest

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table: Romania 16th, Russia 19th
Europe Table: Romania 8th, Russia 15th

IRB Ranking Points
Romania 67.47, Russia 62.39

Prediction: Romania by 8

Teams

Romania

15 Catalin Fercu	RCM Timisoara
14 Madalin Lemnaru	RCM Timisoara
13 Csaba Gal	CSM Baia Mare
12 Florin Vlaicu	RCJ Farul Constanta
11 Ionut Dumitru	Steaua Bucuresti
10 Valentin Calafeteanu	RCM Timisoara
9 Florin Surugiu	CSM Bucaresti
8 Stelian Burcea	RCM Timisoara
7 Mihai Macovei (Capt.)	Sporting Nazairien, France
6 Viorel Lucaci	Steaua Bucharesti
5 Valentin Poparlan	RCM Timisoara
4 Marius Sirbe	Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby, France
3 Paulica Ion	USA  Perpignan, France
2 Andrei Radoi	Ealing RFC, England
1 Mihaita Lazar	Castres Olympique, France
16 Eugen Capatana	RCM Timisoara
17 Andrei Ursache	US Carcassonne, France
18 Horatiu Pungea	Llanelly Scarlets, Wales
19 Cristian Munteanu	U S Romans et Peageoise, France
20 Vlad Nistor	Castres Olympique, France
21 Dorin Manole	US Orthez, France
22 Florin Ionita	Steaua Bucharesti
23 Cristian Dinis-Vartic	CSM Baia Mare
HEAD COACH: Lyn Howells

Russia

15		Vasily Artemyev	Northampton Saints, England
14		Andrei Otrokov	Krasny Yar
13		Dmitry Gerasimov	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
12		Alexey Makovetsky	Krasny Yar
11		Igor Galinovskiy	Krasny Yar
10		Yuri Kushnarev	RC Kuban Krasnodar
9		Alexander Yanyushkin	VVA-Podmoskovye
8		Andrey Temnov	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
7		Andrei Garbuzov	Krasny Yar
6		Andrey Ostrikov	Sale Sharks, England
5		Kirill Kulemin	Sale Sharks, England
4		Alexander Voytov (Capt.)	VVA-Podmoskovye
3		Andrey Igretsov	Glory-DPS
2		Vladislav Korshunov	VVA-Podmoskovye
1		Grigory Tsnobiladze	Krasny Yar
16		Valeriy Tsnobiladze	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
17		Alexey Volkov	VVA-Podmoskovye
18		Innokenty Zykov	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
19		Pavel Butenko	Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk
20		Victor Gresev	Krasny Yar
21		Anton Ryabov	Krasny Yar
22		Sergei Sugrobov	Slava Moscow-CPS
23		Sergey Yanyushkin	VVA-Podmoskovye
		HEAD COACH: Kingsley Jones