By Mitch Phillips
LILLE, France (Reuters) – Romania have made nine changes and selected a new captain for their World Cup finale against Tonga on Sunday as they seek to end on a high after a hugely dispiriting tournament so far.
Romania are bottom of an admittedly daunting Pool B and have suffered three massive defeats to give them a points situation of scored eight, conceded 242.
Their 84-0 thrashing by Scotland last week came after a 76-0 loss to South Africa and an 82-8 thumping by Ireland and unsurprisingly they rank near the bottom of almost all the tournament’s performance statistics.
The most damning is an incredible average of 49 missed tackles per match, something they will have to improve on dramatically if they are going to keep the physical Tongans at bay.
Coach Eugen Apjok has given the captain’s armband to hooker Ovidiu Cojocaru, who missed the Scotland game. It will be the first time he has led the team in his 34th test.
Number eight Cristi Chirica, captain in the previous three games, is out of the matchday squad, with Andre Gorin replacing him at the back of the scrum.
Lock Adrian Motoc keeps his place and will look to extend his record of being the only player in the team to have played every minute of the tournament.
Scrumhalf Florin Surugiu gets his first start in France and will draw level with Mihai Macovei as Romania’s third most-capped player on 104 caps – behind Catalin Fercu (109) and his former halfback partner, Florin Vlaicu (129).
Backs Alexandre Bucur and Mihai Graure, both recent additions to the squad, are among the replacements.
With Tonga also having lost all their games, also without a bonus point, Sunday’s clash is a straight shoot-out to avoid bottom place.
Romania team to play Tonga:
1-Alexandru Savin, 2-Ovidiu Cojocaru (captain), 3-Alexandru Gordas, 4-Adrian Motoc, 5-Marius Iftimiciuc, 6-Vlad Neculau, 7-Cristi Boboc, 8-Andre Gorin, 9-Florin Surugiu, 10-Alin Conache, 11-Taliauli Sikuea, 12-Fonovai Tangimana, 13-Tevita Manumua, 14-Nicholas Onutu, 15-Marius Simionescu.
Replacements:
16-Robert Irimescu, 17-Iulian Hartig, 18-Costel Burtila, 19-Florian Rosu, 20-Damian Stratila, 21-Gabriel Rupanu, 22-Alexandru Bucur, 23-Mihai Graure.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Christian Radnedge)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibilty for its content.