Preview: IRB Nations Cup finals

Friday 20th June 2008

The IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest will climax tomorrow at the Arcul de Triumf Stadium in Bucharest with the final round of matches - and hosts Romania facing Emerging South Africa in the clash of the top two.

Although the playing standard, for obvious reasons, may have been mildly inferior to last year's calibre, the intensity and the desire to win remain the same and are clearly displayed by all six contenders.

Emerging South Africa vs Romania, 20.00 (17.00 GMT)

The two unbeaten teams in the tournament, Romania and Emerging South Africa, clash in a "winner takes all" match at the end of the day. The young Romanian team have been working hard under their new New Zealand coaches Ellis Meachen and Steve McDowall to maximise their perceived advantage up front.

"The team has been working very hard in training and improving from match to match so I believe that they will be able to handle a match of such intensity. It will be a very interesting match, I am sure," Meachen said.

Among the novelties in the Romanian team line-up is the appearance of flanker Florin Corodeanu at lock-forward, which will probably add dynamism to the heavyweight Romanian pack, as well as the appearance on the bench of 75-cap centre Romeo Gontineac.

The veteran of four RWC tournaments has confirmed that he is as keen now as he was when he made his international debut 13 years ago and that he was looking forward to what was likely to be the last match of his distinguished international career.

"In order to win we must control the ball, try to dominate the set-piece and prevent them from counterattacking," Gontineac said.

His South African wife, Lucinda, on her way to Bucharest, confessed that she was experiencing a severe case of divided loyalties. Born in Bellville in the Western Cape, she met her husband-to-be in the aftermath of the match between Romania and South Africa in the 1995 RWC.

In order to counteract the alleged Romanian edge up front, the astute Emerging South Africa coach Chester Williams, took his pack to a private line-out session against his former club Dinamo Bucharest, which may well help tip the balance of this intriguing contest.

Emerging South Africa: 15 Bjorn Basson, 14 Howard Noble, 13 Justin St Jerry, 12 Morgan Newman (captain), 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Jodie Rose, 9 Warren Malgas, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Devon Raubenheimer, 6 Francois Prinsloo, 5 Nico du Plessis, 4 Cobus Grobler, 3 Philip Lemmer, 2 Jody Jennecker, 1 Sangoni Moxi
Replacements: 16 Greg van Jaarsveldt, 17 Janro van Niekerk, 18 Berend Botha, 19 Zolani Mofu, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Isma-eel Dollie, 22 Richard Lawson

Romania: 15 Adrian Barbuliceanu, 14 Catalin Fercu, 13 Catalin Dascalu, 12 Ionut Dimofte, 11 Stefan Ciuntu, 10 Danut Dumbrava, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Costica Mersoiu (captain), 7 Mihai Macovei, 6 Stelian Burcea, 5 Valentin Poparlan, 4 Florin Corodeanu, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Florin Tasca, 1 Radu Basalau
Replacements: 16 Bogdan Zebega, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Alexandru Grigore, 19 Daniel Carpo, 20 Valentin Ivan, 21 Romeo Gontineac, 22 Florin Vlaicu

Referee: Alan Falzone (Italy)
Touch judges: Gustavo Gerbasi (Uruguay), Vladimir Volnik ( Russia)

Italy A vs Georgia, 18.00 (15.00 GMT)

In the second match of the day, Italy A take on Georgia, both teams with one win out of two and the desire to perhaps add a bonus point to their winning total, which might take them into silver medal position ahead of the loser of the clash between the Emerging Springboks and Romania.

Their teams are largely unchanged, though the Italian fly-half in the first two matches, Paolo Buso, has been moved to full-back to accommodate Davide Duca, who will start at fly-half.

Italy A: 15 Paolo Buso, 14 Michele Sepe, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Alessio Galante, 11 Andrea Sartoretto, 10 Davide Duca, 9 Giulio Toniolatti, 8 Manoa Vosawai, 7 Nicola Cattina, 6 Paul Derbyshire, 5 Valerio Bernab˛, 4 Antonio Pavanello, 3 Matteo Pietrosanti, 2 Luigi Ferraro (captain), 1 Alberto De Marchi
Replacements: 16 Franco Sbaraglini, 17 Lorenzo Giovanchelli, 18 Agustin Cavalieri, 19 Silvio Orlando, 20 Pietro Travagli, 21 Diego Varani, 22 Andrea Barbieri

Georgia: 15 Otar Barkalaia, 14 Giorgi Shkinin, 13 Alexander Todua, 12 Lasha Khmaladze, 11 Irakli Chkhikvadze, 10 Lasha Malaguradze, 9 Bidzina Samkharadze, 8 Besarion Udesiani (captain), 7 Irakli Gundishvili, 6 Simon Maisuradze, 5 Kakhaber Uchava, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Giorgi Khositashvili, 2 Iuri Natriashvilii, 1 David Gasviani
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Shota Melikidze, 18 Karlen Aseishvili, 19 Viktor Kolelishvili, 20 Giorgi Rokhvadze, 21 Beka Tsiklauri, 22 Irakli Kiasashvili

Referee: Pro Legoete (South Africa)
Touch judges: Horatiu Bargaunas (Romania), Gustavo Gerbasi (Uruguay)

Russia vs Uruguay, 16.00 (13.00 GMT)

In the opening match, Russia and Uruguay are chasing that elusive first win, with Los Teros hoping to improve on their gutsy performance against Georgia in round two. The arrival of veteran prop Pablo Lemoine has certainly strengthened their front row and the entry of Diego Magno, after a sterling performance for the U20 in Chile last month, might help them to solve the line-out problems experienced in the previous game.

Fly-half Matias Arocena switches positions with full-back Emiliano Caffera in order to add a bit of pace.

Russia have recalled veteran scrum-half Victor Motorin at the expense of Alexander Yanushkyn, who scored all their points against Romania in round two, and re-shuffled the back division in the hope of acquiring that missing edge in attack.

In the pack, Victor Kobzev replaces the injured Alex Voytov, who needs a few weeks of rest following his head injury against Romania.

Russia: 15 Valery Ignatev, 14 Dmiry Zubarev, 13 Mikhail Babaev, 12 Sergey Belousov, 11 Oleg Kobzev, 10 Sergey Kuzmenko, 9 Victor Motorin, 8 Andrey Sorokin, 7 Artem Fatakhov, 6 Kirill Kushnarev, 5 Andrey Lugin, 4 Victor Kobzev, 3 Alexey Travkin, 2 Vladimir Marchenko (captain), 1 Alexander Khrokin
Replacements: 16 Alexey Volkov, 17 Vladimir Botvinnikov, 18 Alexey Chernyshev, 19 Sergey Bazhenov, 20 Alexander Yanushkin, 21 Sergey Shishkov, 22 Sergey Trishin

Uruguay: 15 Matias Arocena, 14 Pablo Bueno, 13 Joaquin Pastore, 12 Santiago Rodino, 11 Agustin Perez Del Castillo, 10 Emiliano Caffera, 9 Juan Campomar (captain), 8 Ignacio Conti, 7 Juan Pablo Horta, 6 Santiago Carracedo, 5 Mario Sagario, 4 Martin Espiga, 3 Pablo Lemoine, 2 Carlos Arboleya, 1 Rodrigo Sanchez
Replacements: 16 Nicholas Klapenbach, 17 Sebastian Levaggi, 18 Juan Rombys, 19 Diego Magno, 20 Nicolas Morales, 21 Juan Martin Llovet, 22 Ivo Dugonjic

Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania)
Touch judges: Horatiu Bargaunas (Romania), Michale Chachua (Georgia)