REC Preview: Romania v Russia

A massive clash between two sides vying for a spot in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan as Romania will need to win this Rugby Europe Championship keep alive their hopes of qualifying for RWC 2019 as Europe 1 alive, while if Russia lose their chances of qualifying directly for RWC 2019 or via the play-off route will be over. 

Romania has won their last five home games against Russia dating back to 2009 and have scored 30 points in each of their last two games. Russia’s last win in the fixture came on home soil when they beat the Oaks 16-13 in Krasnodar in 2015

TEAM NEWS

Romania’s record points scorer Florin Vlaicu has be named on the bench for only the fourth time in six years as Lynn Howells opts to hand Jack Umaga the no.10 jersey. Valentin Calafeteanu has also promoted from the bench, while Ionut Dumitru comes in for Stephen Shennan on the left wing.

The only change to the front five is in the second row where Marius Antonescu is replaced by Valentin Poparlan, while Vlad Nistor and Andrei Gorcioaia are the two new faces in the back row.

For Russia, Viktor Gresev and Dmitry Krotov return to the back row, while Yuri Kushnarev and Ramil Gaisin swap roles in the 10 and 15 shirts. Evgeny Nepeivoda and Sergei Trishin join the backline as acting head coach Mark McDermott names his first Bears team for this do-or-die RWC 2019 qualifier.