Romania are now second from bottom of Pool D after they were unable to take proper advantage of good spells of attacking play against the French, in their first match at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Romania started the match well by frustrating the French attack with their strength and defensive endeavour but it was ultimately a lack of discipline that gave the French side the opening they needed with Morgan Parra scoring a 3-point penalty conversion in the eighth minute.

Throughout the match, Romania struggled to gain possession at key moments due to the pace of French play but they came extremely close in the 18th minute when Florin Vlaicu was denied a try because the ball was not properly grounded.

France was able to take control of the match in the 30th minute when Romania’s Ion Paulica received a yellow card. His 10-minute absence proved incredibly costly for the Romanian side as both Sofiane Guitoune and Yannick Nyanga scored tries with Parra taking the conversions to bring the score up to 17-3. The Romanian side rallied behind their captain Mihai Macovei and almost came up with a response on the stroke of half-time when Cătălin Fercu was denied a try after being pushed out of play. Romania had to settle for a penalty, scored by Romania’s record scorer in test matches Florin Vlaicu, to end the first half 17-6 behind.

The first quarter of the second half was a much quieter affair with France continuing to have offensive bursts which put Romania’s defence to the test. The French part of the 50,000 in attendance, which occasionally burst into song with chants of ‘Allez les Blues!’ and ‘La Marseillaise’, only added to the weight on the Romanian players’ shoulders. As the second half wore on, fatigue began to set in for the Romanian side after the effects of their tireless defensive efforts sank in. France scored two further tries in the 66th (Sofiane Guitoune) and 69th (Wesley Fofana) minute with conversions to bring the score to 31-6.

Romania were able to gain a consolation in the last 10 minutes when Andrei Ursache produced a strong driving finish to earn Romania’s first world cup try against France to bring the score to 31-11. France then hit back with a try (Gael Fickou) and conversion in the dying seconds of the match to bring the final score to 38-11.

Romania’s next match will be against Ireland on Sunday at 18:45 (16:45 GMT).

Romania look for first Rugby World Cup win against France

By Dale Harris, editorial intern

(Photo source: Rugby World Cup Facebook page)