Romania name 31 man provisional squad for World Cup

[psychic duck]

Romania have named their 31 man provisional squad for the World Cup, the Oaks are now a pale shadow of the side they once were (they used to be at about the level Italy are now) as one can tell by the few players who play in France, England or the Magners League and the fact they had to qualify via a playoff against Uruguay. Even more recently they at least had about half their squad playing in ProD2 but now even that doesn't seem to happen. Unfortunately for them, on form they will lose all their matches at this World Cup, for the first time since 1995. Their best chance of a win will be against Georgia who over the past 4 years have been easily the best European side out of the 6 nations.

Despite the presence of Perpignan's Marius Tincu and Ovidiu Toniţa and Silviu Florea the rest of the squad looks a bit weak, the front row is quite good which is a start and could possibly give Alasdair Dickinson and the Scotland props some bother but other than that they are weak and the scrum won't bother Argentina, Georgia and England all of whom have good scrum themselves. They are also hit by the loss of Alex Manta who despite being now aged 34 but is a good ball carrier. Also missing too is Bogdan Bălan and Petrisor Toderasc. They have got worse from 2007 and try poacher Chris Ashton will be licking his lips like he did against Italy in the 6 Nations at this side.

Props:
Nicolae Nere (Steaua)
Mihaita Lazăr (Aix-en-Provence)
Silviu Florea (Bordeaux-Bègles)
Dragoş Dima (Blagnac),
Paulică Ion (London Irish)

Hookers:
Marius Tincu (Perpignan)
Bogdan Zebega (Steaua)
Andrei Rădoi (Baia Mare)

Locks:
Valentin Ursache (Aix-en-Provence)
Cristian Petre (Saint-Étienne)
Valentin Popirlan (CSM Bucureşti)
Cosmin Raţiu (Dinamo)

Back Row:
Ovidiu Toniţa (Perpignan)
Mihai Macovei (Baia Mare)
Daniel Carpo (Farul Constanţa)
Daniel Ianus (Steau)
Stelian Burcea (Timişoara)

Scrum Halves:
Lucian Sîrbu (Millau)
Valentin Calafeteanu (Timişoara)
Florin Surugiu (CSM Bucureşti)

Fly Halves:
Dănuţ Dumbravă (Steau)
Ionuţ Dimofte (Baia Mare)

Centres:
Csaba Gál (Baia Mare)
Constantin Gheara (Farul Constanţa)
Ionel Cazan (Steau)

Wings:
Cătălin Fercu (Timişoara)
Mădălin Lemnaru (Timişoara)
Stefan Ciuntu (Baia Mare)

Full Backs:Florin Vlaicu (Steau)
Iulian Dumitraș (Lourdes)
Cătălin Nicolae (Farul Constanţa)

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

So they're only dropping one player from that squad? Just imagine being that guy! You'd feel dead.

 

[LittleGuy]

So they're only dropping one player from that squad? Just imagine being that guy! You'd feel dead.

An injury might save some player a might embarrassing moment, but yes weird decision to go with a provisional squad virtually the same size as the final one, Canada just went the whole way down to thirty already today.

 

[Darwin]

So they're only dropping one player from that squad? Just imagine being that guy! You'd feel dead.

Given there are 5 props in the squad I would imagine it could be one of the props that drops out... as you say it is certainly going to be harsh on the poor guy that misses out!

 

[AfakasiAssasin]

Love the Romanian RWC outfits, very nice!

 

[psychic duck]

So they're only dropping one player from that squad? Just imagine being that guy! You'd feel dead.

one player is probably injured and they don't know whether he will be back in time so they named an extra player, a bit like France have done, they have named a 33 man squad with injury doubts over Fabien Barcella, Thomas Domingo and Aurélien Rougerie

 

[icsulescool]

http://www.therugbyforum.com/forum/member.php?48703-psychic-duckUnfortunately, this isn't our best squad. Many players from France or from local championship haven't been called at the national team.
Toderasc, Balan and Manta retired from national team. Socol, our captian also annouced his retirement, after a scandal with the Federation and coach.
The only good news from Romania is that national league has now only the best 8 teams in the country, so there won't be anymore scores like 100-0 . A popular sport television (GSP TV) broadcasts 2 of the 4 league matches every week, plus Cup Matches, etc. Now there is very much rugby on television: 6Nations, Tri Nations, autumn test matches, Top 14 and Aviva Premiership matches and of course RWC. I hope that media will promote rugby and will become a more popular sport in our country.

I think our best team would look like this:
1. Mihăiţă Lazăr
2. Marius Tincu
3. Paulică Ion
4. Cristian Petre
5. Valentin Ursache
6. Ovidiu Toniţa
7. Daniel Ianuş
8. Daniel Carpo
9. Valentin Calafeteanu
10. Dănuţ Dumbravă
11. Mădălin Lemnaru
12. Csaba Gal
13. Ionuţ Cazan
14. Cătălin Fercu
15. Iulian Dumitraş

Our key players will be: Tincu, Toniţa, Dănuţ Dumbravă (a kicker in very good form), Cătălin Fercu (great breakthroughs, footwork and very good acceleration, speed).