Wales 54 Romania 8

By Lestyn
August 28 2003

A shadow Welsh ran in six tries to bring to an end a ten match losing streak lasting over nine months. As well as the result - this was a much improved performance that saw several players send a strong message to Steve Hansen ahead of the World cup.

At last some real positives Hansen can take out of game. Even if this was really the A team playing against a third world international team, there were some promising performances. What's more there were fifteen men in red shirts who really wanted to win, unlike the England game.

With World cup spots well and truly up for grabs, the likes of Shane Williams, Gavin Henson and Andy Marinos in the back did there hopes a lot of good. Up front Mefin Davies led impressively as captain, making himself a possible candidate for a role nobody has yet to fill really, Jonathan Thomas looked affective at blindside.

Henson didn't miss a kick all night, something Hansen should have taken notice of, with Stephen Jones's going from bad to worse. The spiky haired Ospreys players had a solid game at full back, but he could have possibly have been more use at outside half where Nicky Robinson didn't really look up to it. The rest of the team didn't do badly either, but this is Romania were talking about here and average isn't really good enough.

Wales got off to an ideal start through Shane Williams who took advantage of the Oaks disorganised defence following some strong Welsh scrummaging. Ben Evans who may have played himself out of Steve Hansen's World cup squad was partly responsible for allowing the Romanians to hit back almost straight away. The Blues prop was all to casual with a pass to Mike Phillips and the visitors earned themselves a penalty, which they opted to kick to touch. From the resulting lineout ten metres out, they drove over through prop Balan.

Fortunately the try proved to be a turning point for Ruddock's side, and after several clear breaks, Mike Phillips broke sent the Romanian defence the wrong way to touch down under the posts. The rest of the half was a scrappy affair up until the closing minutes, ball retention wasn't what it should have been. Only penalties kept the score board ticking over regularly, that was until number Alix Popham dived over to give Wales a slightly more comfortable lead at half time. 30-8.

The second half began with a bit of hand bags at ten paces stuff, Mike Phillips reacting to a bit of afters from a Romanian forwards. Phillips does have potential, but has a bit of an attitude problem. In the first half he signalled to the ref for a Romanian to be booked for a late tackle, antics we shouldn't encourage in rugby.

Romania in their change strip of dark blue soon saw some of their traditional yellow, that being of the colour of the card two of their players saw half way through the second half.

Nathan Brew made a few useful breaks, the Gwent Dragons utility man was set up by Nicky Robinson by a good inside pass and he powered over to score under the posts on his debut. Fellow Newport youth product Alix Popham should have had his second of the night but spurned an easy opportunity. A quick tap penalty by replacement scrum half Andy Williams allowed Shane Williams to side step his way through the Romanian defence, before offloading to Gavin Thomas who barged over for the try.

Shane Williams was to produce another piece of brilliance before the end of the game. This time the winger chipped and sprinted his way from his own 22 to the other, leaving countless Romanian defenders trailing, but nothing came of it. The Ospreys player did however take advantage of a slightly easier opportunity in the eighth minute of injury time. Even his try wasn't the final move of the game, the South African ref added another four minutes of injury time. It was just exhausting to watch, considering there weren't really any considerable stoppages in play.

I'm not completely sure if this game is of any real relevance at all, but a win is a win and the current state were in, were not exactly going to turn one down.

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Teams:

Wales: 15 Gavin Henson, 14 Nathan Brew, 13 Matthew Watkins, 12 Andy Marinos, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Alix Popham, 7 Gavin Thomas, 6 Jonathan Thomas, 5 Brent Cockbain, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Ben Evans, 2 Mefin Davies (captain), 1 Paul James.
Replacements: 16 Paul Young, 17 Chris Anthony, 18 Deiniol Jones, 19 James Bater, 20 Gareth Wyatt, 21 Jon Bryant, 22 Andy Williams.

Romania: 15 Dan Dumbrava, 14 Cristian Sauan, 13 Valentin Mattei, 12 Romeo Gontineac (captain), 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Costica Mersoiu, 6 George Chiriac, 5 Cristian Petre, 4 Sorin Socol, 3 Marcel Socaciu, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Petru Balan.
Replacements: 16 D Tudosa, 17 Petrisor Toderasc, 18 Cezar Popescu, 19 Agustin Petrichei, 20 Marian Tudori, 21 Iulian Andrei, 22 I Teodoruscu.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Tries: S Williams 2, Phillips Popham, Brew, G Thomas
Cons: Henson 6
Pens: Henson 4

For Romania:
Try: Balan
Pen: Dumbrava