Romania hold on to beat Resilient Chile

The beautiful Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf was the setting for Saturday’s test match between Romania and Chile. In what was a competitive contest, the Stejarii were 30-23 winners over Los Cóndores. The match was the first of three for the teams as part of the 2022 November Internationals.

Playing in their alternate white strip, Chile were slow starters. The home side’s impressive opening half had them in command with an early 18-0 lead. It would be eroded though as Chile found their feet to ensure that the match was not decided until the final whistle.

Romania’s early scores will have frustrated Chile. Winger Atila Septar ran around Nicolás Garafulic to go over in the corner. Tudor Boldor converted the 11th minute score was converted from a wide angle. He did so after having missed an early penalty attempt.

Boldor added three points in the 17th minute. The 10-0 lead had Romania in charge but they were not complacent. Hungry for further points, Romania went upfield and were deep in the Chilean 22. An attacking scrum did not go to plan though as the ball popped out. Romania were able to pass wide for Marius Simionescu to brush off a tackle from Santiago Videla to score.

After an underwhelming opening quarter, Chile needed a wake-up call and it finally came. Clemente Saavedra muscled his way over for Chile’s first try. The 32nd minute score was unconverted by Videla. The usually reliable goal-kicker was well-below his best from the kicking-tee.

Chile were down to 14 men for 10 minutes when  Matías Garafulic was yellow carded for a high tackle. His monstrous tackle on Boldor saw the Romanian fly half taken from the field. Romania were unable to add points and Chile missed out again with Videla off target to close out the half.

Romania’s 20-5 lead was reflective of the rugby played in the first half. Los Cóndores were in no mood to through in the towel, however, and the forwards were rewarded in the 49th minute. A lineout to maul try saw Augusto Bohme touching down.

The try was unconverted by Videla who was shortly after penalized for a high tackle. Vladut Popa missed the attempted penalty for Romania before Videla landed a shot to make it a 20-13 scoreline at the start of the final quarter.

Popa responded to Videla with a 63rd minute penalty. Romania were still leading but their control over play had ended. Caught in their own half and going nowhere, a pass was intercepted by Matías Garafulic. The center ran 45 meters to score. Videla landed from wide to set-up a three point scoreline with 14 minutes remaining.

This time Romania did come back with a bang. They attacked well and won a penalty. The kick went to the corner and Romania attempted a lineout to maul try. It was a success with Kamil Sobota planting the ball down in the try zone. Popa made it a ten point lead with the difficult conversion.

Chile got three back with Videla landing a 76th minute penalty. The South Americans then had a shot a scoring again to claim a draw. Los Cóndores were deep in the Romanian 22 and hot on attack. Referee Sam Grove-White blew the whistle for holding on and with it full-time was called. Romania held on to beat a resilient Chile.

Both teams will play again next weekend. Chile face Tonga on Saturday and Romania face Uruguay on Sunday. Both matches will be at the Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf.

 

SCORING

 

ROMANIA 30
Try – A Septar, M Simionescu, K Sobota
Con – T Boldor 2/2; V Popa 1/1
Pen – T Boldor 2/3. V Popa 1/2

 

CHILE 23
Try – C Saavedra, A Bohme, M Garafulic
Con – S Videla 1/3
Pen – S Videla 2/4

 

TEAMS

ROMANIA
1 Vasile Balan, 2 Tudor Butnariu, 3 Alexandru Gordas, 4 Florian Rosu, 5 Johannes van Heerden, 6 Mihai Macovei (capt.), 7 Cristi Chirica, 8 Damian Stratila, 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 10 Tudor Boldor, 11 Atila Septar, 12 Vladut Popa, 13 Alexandru Bucur, 14 Marius Simionescu, 15 Hinckley Vaovasa

Replacements: 16 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Victor Leon, 19 Marius Ifrimiciuc, 20 Kamil Sobota, 21 Florin Surugiu, 22 Nicolas Onutu, 23 Robert Neagu

CHILE
1 Salvador Lues, 2 Tomás Dussaillant, 3 Matías Dittus, 4 Clemente Saavedra, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Ignacio Silva, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Pablo Casas, 12 Iñaki Ayarza, 13 Matías Garafulic, 14 Nicolás Garafulic, 15 Santiago Videla

Replacements: 16 Augusto Bohme, 17 Javier Carrasco, 18 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 19 Santiago Pedrero, 20 Joaquín Milesi, 21 Lukas Carvallo, 22 José Larenas, 23 Raimundo Martínez

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Sam Grove-White (UK)
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace (UK), Ben Breakspear (UK)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (ZA)