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Preview: France v Romania

Japan's victory over the Springboks has given all of the minnows inspiration, and Romania are no different as they line up a French side which has retained only two of the players who started in their win against Italy on Saturday.

 

The two teams have faced each other 49 times in total, with France winning 39, two draws and eight wins for Romania.

 

Those eight wins were by no means against weakened French teams, but the last of them came in 1990 and Romania have certainly not come close to France in the professional era.

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However, this Romanian side boasts 648 Test caps between them and two players – tighthead prop Paulica Ion and flyhalf Danut Dumbrava – who are playing in their fourth World Cup.

There is an extra edge to the tournament with qualification for World Cup 2019 on the agenda, another reason for Romania to do well against Les Bleus.

Their Welsh coach Lynn Howells admitted that Japan's historic win against South Africa has given them hope that they can compete with the top sides.

“It (Japan's victory over South Africa) was a great result for the Tier Two nations and for the game of rugby.

"I think it’s definitely scared the bigger teams to not take us or any of the smaller nations too easy. But in terms of our preparation it has not changed our approach to this match," he said.

France will be led by hooker Dimitri Szarzewski, and coach Philippe Saint-Andre has admitted that the biggest challenge will be for them to perform as a unit and not 15 individuals all looking to impress.

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It is their youngest World Cup team since a comprehensive victory over Namibia in 2007, as Saint-Andre takes a look at some of his options going forward.

Players to watch:

 

For France: Brice Dulin should provide a spark from the back, and the centre pairing of Gael Fickou and Wesley Fofana should be just as exciting on attack. The experience of Morgan Parra at scrumhalf will be key behind big No.8 Louis Picamoles who is one of two survivors from the victory over Italy. Flanks Fulgence Ouedraogo and Yannick Nyanga will both bring a high work rate, and up front lock Bernard le Roux and hooker Dimitri Szarzewski will take Romania on physically.

 

For Romania: The experience of flyhalf Danut Dumbrava will be crucial if they are to stand up to the French. Captain Mihai Macovei will want to lead from the front while South African-born lock Johannes van Heerden will also have to provide plenty of physicality. At scrum-time it will be up to veteran prop Paulica Ion to provide a solid platform.

 

Head to head: Romanian inside centre Florin Vlaicu will have his work cut out for him up against Wesley Fofana, while it will be interesting to see how his centre partner Paula Kinikinilau goes against Gael Fickou. Romanian captain Mihai Macovei has a tough task matching up to big Louis Picamoles at No.8 and both sides feature South African-born locks in the form of Bernard le Roux and Johannes van Heerden.

 

Previous results:

2006: France won 62-14 in Bucharest

2003: France won 56-8 in Lens

2000: France won 67-20 in Bucharest

1999: France won 62-8 in Castres

1997: France won 39-3 in Lourdes

1997: France won 51-20 in Bucharest

1996: France won 64-12 in Aurillac

1995: France won 52-8 in Tucuman

1995: France won 24-15 in Bucharest

1993: France won 51-0 in Brive

 

Prediction: This should be one-way traffic, so we expect France to win by at least 40 points.

 

Teams:

 

France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Sofiane Guitoune, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Wesley Fofana, 11 Noa Nakaitaci, 10 Remi Tales, 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 (captain), 1 Vincent Debaty.

Replacements: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Nicolas Mas, 19 Yoann Maestri, 20 Damien Chouly, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Frederic 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 (captain), 7 Viorel Lucaci, 6 Valentin Ursache, 5 Johannes 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.

 

Date: Wednesday, September 23

Venue: Olympic Park, London

Kick-off: 20.00 (19.00 GMT, 21.00 French time, 22.00 Romanian time)

Expected weather: Partly cloudy with 10% chance of rain and a high of 18, 20kph wind

Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)       

Assistant referees: Craig Joubert (South Africa), Federico Anselmi (Argentina)  

TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

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