Key events
42 mins. Romania start the half as they played the back end of the first, by working the ball in the Tonga half. They have a penalty after Tameifuna collapses the scrum, but Coleman snaffles the throw to win the ball back for the Sea Eagles.
That was probably a bit of justice as the pitch ripped up like cheap carpet under Tameifuna leading him to fall over, so the penalty was harsh.
SECOND HALF!
Havili chips the ball back into action
HALF TIME!
40 mins. Tonga have one last attack but the ball is spilled into touch by Taumoepeau to end the half.
38 mins. This is Surugiu 104th and final cap, he was weeping during the anthem at the enormity of it all and now he’s scored a try to put his side right back in this game. A wonderful moment.
We’ve also just heard that Fifita’s yellow will not become a red, the bunker has ruled the degree of danger was not considered high enough as the body took most of the impact, not the head.
TRY! Tonga 21 – 17 (Florin Surugiu)
35 mins. That card has sprung Romania into life and their latest attack works from left to right for Simionescu to hit the line. He chips the ball forward and he’s this close to getting it back, but Havili does good job to sweep across and cover.
Bur the Oaks come again via a lienout maul and Florin Surugiu runs up the blindside to score in the right corner.
Conache creams a great kick over from out wide to add two points.
YELLOW CARD! Halaleva Fifita (Tonga)
32 mins. The Tongan second row comes in high and his shoulder makes contact with Florian Rosu’s chin. There was a bit of dip from Rosu, but it’s still a yellow and off for a review as far as ref Gardner is concerned.
TRY! Tonga 21 – 10 Romania (Cristi Boboc)
30 mins. A cheeky short lineout move has Cojocaru racing up the right touchline and up to the five metre line. The Oaks forwards come flooding in to take some short carries before Boboc grips the ball and smashes over.
Conache adds the two.
26 mins. Tonga fizz the ball around a bit around the Romania 10m line, offloading and working the Oaks defence hard left and right. It feels like this is sapping energy from the men in yellow but this isn’t capitalised on as Tonga promptly lose their own lineout.
PENALTY! Tonga 21 – 3 Romania (Afusipa Taumoepeau)
21 mins. Tameifuna is prominent in the attack with another of his signature carries before the ball is passed left to Talitui, but the back row can’t get to the line. Takalua steps up to the ruck to feed Taumoepeau to score in the left corner.
Havilie drills an impressive conversion
PENALTY! Tonga 14 – 3 Romania (Alin Conache)
18 mins. Simionescu runs the ball up from fullback before chipping and beautifully gathering his own kick to take his side into the Tongan 22. The Sea Eagles scramble to recover their defensive shape but are caught offside.
Conache calls for the tee and puts his side on the board. A good response from the Oaks as it looked like it was about to go real bad, real quick for them in the previous minutes.
TRY! Tonga 15 – 0 Romania (George Moala)
15 mins. Tonga are coming hard and frequently now, offloading out of the tackle. They work the ball right through Piutau then float it left for Moala to slip a poor Neculau tackle and score.
Havili adds two.
TRY! Tonga 7 – 0 Romania (Solomone Kata)
11 mins. Ben Tameifuna is set free in the 22 after a strong Moala carry. The big prop is dropped by Simionescu, but soon after Charles Piutau appears in the 13 channel from fullback and throws a delightful offload to Kata who gallops in from ten metres.
Havili converts.
8 mins. It’s early, but Romania’s pack are getting the nudge on so far, and from the latest dominant scrum Andre Gorin has a carry from the base before they get to work just inside the Tongan half. There’s a lot of huff and puff without getting very far before the ball is lost. However, the Oaks have it back pretty quickly after Coleman is penalised for holding on.
MISSED PENALTY! Tonga 0 – 0 Romania (Alin Conache)
4 mins. Romania put in an almighty shove to win a scrum penalty that Conache tees up from 50 metres, but it bounces back off the post. We’re still level.
2 mins. A fairly low octane start from both sides, with some kicks back and forth resulting in a Tonga lineout and knock-on around halfway two phases later.
KICK OFF!
Conache drops the ball onto his boot and sends it long to commence proceedings.
The teams are out; Romania in their wonderful canary yellow followed by Tonga’s red and white. Anthem time beckons.
Pre-match reading
Jonathan Liew casts his eyes over the invigorated Ireland Pool B campaign.
What are your reflections on this match, or indeed the wider Pool B experience? Feel free to ask ChatGPT to craft a few paragraphs for you to Email it to me
Teams
Tonga give a tournament debut to George Moala, the former All Black, who slots in at outside centre. There’s also a start for Adam Coleman, who has been bench fodder up to now.
Nine changes for Romania from their last outing, including hooker Ovidiu Cojocaru named as captain.
Tonga: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Solomone Kata, 13 George Moala, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Afusipa Taumoepeau, 10 William Havili, 9 Sonatane Takulua (captain), 8 Sione Vailanu, 7 Sione Talitui, 6 Semisi Paea, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Halaleva Fifita, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 1 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi.
Replacements: 16 Sione Anga’aelangi, 17 Paula Latu, 18 Siate Tokolahi, 19 Sitiveni Mafi, 20 Penitoa Finau, 21 Manusiu Paea, 22 Patrick Pellegrini, 23 Kyren Taumoefolau.
Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Nicholas Onutu, 13 Tevita Manumua, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 11 Taliauli Sikuea, 10 Alin Conache, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Andre Gorin, 7 Cristi Boboc, 6 Vlad Neculau, 5 Marius Iftimiciuc, 4 Adrian Motoc, 3 Alexandru Gordas, 2 Ovidiu Cojocaru (captain), 1 Alexandru Savin.
Replacements: 16 Robert Irimescu, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Costel Burtila, 19 Florian Rosu, 20 Damian Stratila, 21 Gabriel Rupanu, 22 Alexandru Bucur, 23 Mihai Graure.
Preamble
As far the Pool B goes, it’s all over bar the shouting after last night’s demolition job on Scotland by Ireland.
There is however the matter of this final match, with an improving Tonga hoping to overcome a Romania side that have struggled throughout. Given the relative size of playing pools and budgets between both these nations and then the wider rugby world, this reasons the difficulties is not exactly a mystery of Sherlockian proportions.
And why not? History would suggest that Romania are in with a shout. The four meetings of the teams since 2013 has seen two wins each, and all have been close affairs with the winning margin of five points or less in three of them. Pride dictates all will be given in Lille today to edge this sequence and more importantly in the quest for the first win of the tournament.
The pool may by all over for those moving forward to the knockouts, but both of these teams will want to raise their voices loud in their final showing.
