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Two years on from their previous meeting Romania and the USA face-off on Saturday in Bucharest. With the RWC qualifying controversy impacting Romania tremendously this weekend’s fixture sees an understrength Oaks at home against the Eagles.
The young Adrian Motoc will captain Romania on Saturday. The 22-year-old has just four caps with his debut coming in November 2017 against Tonga. Motoc leads an inexperienced pack as Romania turn their attention to RWC 2023.
Three players will make their test debuts from the bench – Alexandru Savin, Marius Iftimiciuc, and Tudor Boldor. While the team is vastly changed to that of prior outings against Tier 2 rivals there is still a spot for the 104 time capped Catalin Fercu in the mid-field.
The USA are missing players of their own. Starters Samu Manoa and AJ MacGinty are the notable absentees. Head Coach Gary Gold otherwise has a stacked roster and has been able to alter the starting line-up following last Saturday’s 30-29 win over Samoa.
Captain Blaine Scully moves from fullback to the right wing with Marcel Brache named to start at the back. In the pack John Quill is back in the side after having been a late withdrawal against Samoa. He replaces Hanco Germishuys who moves to the bench.
The bench also sees Nick Boyer and Gannon Moore taking over from Devereaux Ferris and Tim Maupin. Should he receive game time then Boyer will make his international debut. He is covering Ruben de Haas who again starts at scrum half while Shawn Davies recovers from his concussion against the Maori All Blacks.
In the World Rankings the USA are 15th and Romania 16th. The Eastern Europeans benefited from the USA’s win over Samoa as they moved up one spot, trading places with the Pacific Islanders. The Eagles are now only just behind Georgia.
In the previous Eagles vs Oaks match-up there Eastern Europeans were 23-10 winners. Five starters remain from that fixture for the Eagles. The team is overall vastly stronger now while the opposite is true of Romania’s line-up.
The USA Eagles enter the match as clear favorites. Victory by 15 points is expected. It would continue the Eagles’ unbeaten year in capped internationals.
ROMANIA
1 Ionel Badiu, 2 Andrei Radoi, 3 Alex Gordas, 4 Adrian Motoc (capt.), 5 Marian Drenceanu, 6 Adrian Ion, 7 Johan van Heerden, 8 Cristi Chirica, 9 Florin Surugiu, 10 Daniel Plai, 11 Ionut Dumitru, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 13 Catalin Fercu, 14 Vladut Zaharia, 15 Ionel Melinte
Replacements: 16 Eugen Capatana, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Constantin Pristavita, 19 Marius Iftimiciuc, 20 Razvan Ilisescu, 21 Valentin Calafeteanu, 22 Tudor Boldor, 23 Vladut Popa
USA
1 Titi Lamositele, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 John Quill, 7 Tony Lamborn, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Ruben de Haas, 10 Will Hooley, 11 Ryan Matyas, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Marcel Brache
Replacements: 16 Dylan Fawsitt, 17 David Ainu’u, 18 Dino Waldren, 19 David Tameilau, 20 Hanco Germishuys, 21 Nick Boyer, 22 Will Magie, 23 Gannon Moore
Date: Saturday, November 17
Kick-off: 14:00 local (04:00 Pacific, 07:00 Eastern)
Venue: Ghencea Stadium, Bucharest
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (RFU)
Assistants: Ian Tempest (RFU) & Christophe Ridley (RFU)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)
Broadcasts: FloRugby
