After an opening-round loss to defending champions South Africa, Scotland, ranked fifth in the World Rugby Men’s Rankings powered by Capgemini, got their tournament going with a bonus-point win over Tonga, last weekend. A repeat performance against Romania will set up an enthralling final pool challenge for Gregor Townsend’s side, against world number one outfit Ireland at Stade de France on Saturday.
With one eye on that match next week, Townsend will give a first test start to tight-head prop Javan Sebastian as part of an entirely fresh pack in a much-changed team. Jamie Bhatti, Luke Crosbie, Hamish Watson and Ben Healy will also make their tournament bow, while Johnny Matthews is set to make his Scotland debut off the bench having been called into the squad as a replacement for Stuart McInally.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend admitted that there is pressure to defeat Romania by a big margin:
"There is always pressure when you play for Scotland. You know you have to play your best rugby, that is what that jersey demands of you. It will be a different game to what most of these players are used to. It is not a Six Nations game, there will be times things will be different. It will be a different way of defending, sometimes we will have a lot of ball and sometimes we will make mistakes. The important thing is focusing on each moment and playing as a team."
Romania haven’t enjoyed the best of tournaments so far. They have conceded 158 points and scored just eight in their first two games - and face Tonga in the penultimate match of the pool phase next Sunday. But coach Eugen Apjok will make sure they won’t go down without a fight here.
Apjok has rung the changes, with only five players remaining in Romania’s starting line-up from the team beaten 76-0 by South Africa, while Taliauli Sikuea will make his Rugby World Cup debut on the wing.
Romania head coach Eugen Apjok said the 2023 Rugby World Cup was a big challenge for his team: "We know we are in the death pool. It's a big challenge for the team and I hope we take something from the first two games. It wasn't what we were looking for but I hope the players will learn a lot of things. They understand against Scotland, we need to do it more on the field but I'm sure they'll give everything and it will be a better game for us."
Teams:
Scotland: 1 Jamie Bhatti, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Javan Sebastian, 4 Sam Skinner, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 6 Luke Crosbie, 7 Hamish Watson, 8 Matt Fagerson, 9 Ali Price, 10 Ben Healy, 11 Kyle Steyn, 12 Cameron Redpath, 13 Chris Harris, 14 Darcy Graham, 15 Ollie Smith. Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Rory Sutherland, 18 WP Nel, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Rory Darge, 21 George Horne, 22 Blair Kinghorn, 23 Huw Jones.
Romania: 1 Alexandru Savin, 2 Robert Irimescu, 3 Gheorghe Gajion, 4 Adrian Motoc, 5 Stefan Iancu, 6 Florian Rosu, 7 Dragos Ser, 8 Cristian Chirica (c), 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 10 Alin Conache, 11 Taliauli Sikuea, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 13 Jason Tomane, 14 Sioeli Lama, 15 Marius Simionescu. Replacements: 16 Florin Bardasu, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Costel Burtila, 19 Marius Iftimiciuc, 20 Damian Stratila, 21 Florin Surugiu, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 Nicholas Onutu.
