France vs Romania, 23 September

FRANCE v ROMANIA
23 September 2015
KO: 20:00 BST
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
Live on ITV4 (United Kingdom)

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant Referee 1; Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referee 2; Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Gaël Fickou, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Rémi Talès, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 6 Yannick Nyanga, 5 Alexandre Flanquart, 4 Bernard le Roux, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski (c), 1 Vincent Debaty

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Frédéric Michalak, 23 Mathieu Bastareaud

Romania: 15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Madalin Lemnaru, 13 Paula Kinikinilau, 12 Florin Vlaicu, 11 Adrian Apostol, 10 Danut Dumbrava, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Mihai Macovei (c), 7 Viorel Lucaci, 6 Valentin Ursache, 5 Johan Van Heerden, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Otar Turashvili, 1 Mihaita Lazar

Replacements: 16 Andrei Radoi, 17 Andrei Ursache, 18 Horatiu Pungea, 19 Ovidiu Tonita, 20 Stelian Burcea, 21 Valentin Calafeteanu, 22 Ionut Botezatu, 23 Csaba Gal

Anyone fancy Romania here?

Not really rodders.

Itv 4 by the way, it's coronation Street live tonight

Cheers

Is this going to be anything but a blowout?

I also said that for SA Japan though so may give it a watch

Dammit! I don't get ITV 4 for some reason in this hotel.

Not going to be a blowout but looking forward to see that backline in action. Lots of pace on the paper.

Should be an easy win for the French...

But I love surprises

Romania have one of the best national anthems

I think France will be too much for Romania. Mind you i thought that with SA v Japan. Thought SA would be to strong for Japan. and looked what happend.

majesticimperialman wrote:I think France will be too much for Romania. Mind you i thought that with SA v Japan. Thought SA would be to strong for Japan. and looked what happend.

Is it a good omen for the Welsh that you think England will be much stronger than Wales

Romania just completely demolished the French scrum... Wow

Roumanians seem up for it! Good scrum.

maestegmafia wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:I think France will be too much for Romania. Mind you i thought that with SA v Japan. Thought SA would be to strong for Japan. and looked what happend.

Is it a good omen for the Welsh that you think England will be much stronger than Wales

Have i said that at all?

The Romanians look fairly handy so far.

We're at risk here.

majesticimperialman wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

majesticimperialman wrote:I think France will be too much for Romania. Mind you i thought that with SA v Japan. Thought SA would be to strong for Japan. and looked what happend.

Is it a good omen for the Welsh that you think England will be much stronger than Wales

Have i said that at all?

Yes last time I remember you said that was two days ago...

whocares wrote:We're at risk here.

Sacré Jaune

Good defense by le roux. Lucky here...

Great work from Romania but good defence to get an arm under it.

Looking like a good game so far.

France seem to be struggling a bit here.

Reminds me of Tonga 4 years ago. Our set piece is awful.

Two awful clearing kicks from the Romanian ten. Putting themselves under so much pressure.

Great turn over though

Late in the rucks as well.

This is a good tussle. The Romanian back five like the rucks... Winning some good turnovers

5 turnovers to zero for Romania. Stupid penalties conceded. Nothing positive so far. Can't see us winning.

Can see France pulling away with the extra man.

On the basis of the opening 30 minutes this Romanian team could really push Italy.

France starting too come good.

majesticimperialman wrote:France starting too come good.

Just run them off their feet for us, their schedule is arguably even harder than Japans. France on Wednesday, Ireland on Sunday. So hopefully France make 'em run. A lot.

The scheduling really is unfair, and I'll admit that before and after our game with them. But we still should try to make that advantage count.

France made hay whilst they had the extra man.  Auld Parra looking like he has all the time in the world.  But I wouldn't be reading too much into this French effort.  They'll hope to get their four tries but I still think they won't be showing us the full force they'll be hoping to heave us off the field with.  
They look comfortable.

Golden wrote:Can see France pulling away with the extra man.

On the basis of the opening 30 minutes this Romanian team could really push Italy.

I think that Romanian team can push Italy and Georgia can beat them. Italy are a shambles and have arguably gone backwards with Brunel.

Depressing display. Made our best of the extra man but the score is flattering. PSA sounds upset!

This is bloody awful...

Whocares - what has happened to Debaty? Was he not a fantastic scrummager a couple of seasons ago but he seems to have stood still (apart from the scrums when he goes backwards)

RDW_Scotland wrote:This is bloody awful...

Not far wrong. The organisers have made some odd choices for the prime-time game - NZ against Namibia later this week. That will be a nice, even game!!!

Dam these minnows for not rolling over anymore, who do they think they are!

Debaty has actually improved on the scrum recently. He used to be only an impact player good in the loose really.
That said the last two scrums were just reffed wrongly by peyper

Presume this is the strongest Romanian team? Surely be plenty of changes against Ireland.

Kock on galore!

InjuredYetAgain wrote:Whocares - what has happened to Debaty? Was he not a fantastic scrummager a couple of seasons ago but he seems to have stood still (apart from the scrums when he goes backwards)

Are you thinking of Domingo? He's from the same club team as Debaty, as whocares says, Debaty has always been known as a impact sub because of his loose play

whocares wrote:Debaty has actually improved on the scrum recently. He used to be only an impact player good in the loose really.
That said the last two scrums were just reffed wrongly by peyper

Hmmm. I thought he was primarily a scrummager when he first appeared.

Anyway, Romania are making a decent fist of this. I guess the good thing about the union WC compared to the league one is that the IRB provide funding to the smaller nations to let them have full time coaches, training camps etc which must level the playing field a bit.

Why does Morgan Parra not get more starts for France? Anyone?

That was a bloody double movement No try for me .

InjuredYetAgain wrote:

whocares wrote:Debaty has actually improved on the scrum recently. He used to be only an impact player good in the loose really.
That said the last two scrums were just reffed wrongly by peyper

Hmmm. I thought he was primarily a scrummager when he first appeared.

Anyway, Romania are making a decent fist of this. I guess the good thing about the union WC compared to the league one is that the IRB provide funding to the smaller nations to let them have full time coaches, training camps etc which must level the playing field a bit.

It's the benefits of having a fully pro league. All Romanian clubs in the top division are fully pro due to funding from the local councils and sponsors. They have plenty of PI's, South African's, Aussies etc playing in the league.

PSA prefers the more physical and slower Tillous Bordes. Also Parra has been injured a lot in the last 2 years.

Espee66 wrote:That was a bloody double movement   No try for me .

Same here. Make's you wander what the TMO is actualy looking at.

I thought you are allowed to place the ball, only his arm moved not his body

Do Romania have full-time pro clubs?? I thought they would do better in the 2nd tier Euro competition. Their sides just seem to get pumped year in,year out

majesticimperialman wrote:

Espee66 wrote:That was a bloody double movement   No try for me .

Same here. Make's you wander what the TMO is actualy looking at.

does it count as double movement if the player doesnt crawl?