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Socol full of World Cup pride

Romanians believe they can beat Italy

Romania captain Sorin Socol has admitted he will feel immense pride when he leads The Oaks at the World Cup in France, the country where he has played the majority of his career.

The 29-year-old number eight played for Brive from 1998 until 2002 in the Ligue Nationale de Rugby before making the switch to Agen, where he has played since 2003.

"It will be a proud moment for myself as captain to lead the team out in the first match," said Socol.

"After spending twelve years playing rugby in France, to captain Romania in the World Cup in the country where I have played most of my club career will be an honour.

"About 80 per cent of the players in the Romania national team also play here so I am sure it will be a great moment for a lot of our players.

"Hopefully some of the French rugby fans will know our players from the French league and support us as their second team."

The Romanians are in Pool C with favourites New Zealand, Six Nations sides Scotland and Italy as well as tournament debutants Portugal.

And Socol says his team will thrive on their tag as underdogs and is optimistic they can cause an upset.

He insisted that despite being considered as one of the weaker teams in the group they are capable of causing some of the established nations a few problems.

"It will be a tough competition because we have a tough pool," admitted Socol.

"But maybe we have a chance to surprise some of the other teams who are perhaps thinking they will have an easier game when play against us.

"The World Cup is the high point for everyone in the Romania team and we will be determined to show everyone what can be done with teamwork and courage from the heart."

Socol, who won his first cap against Spain in 2001, confirmed his side are not daunted by the prospect of facing a powerful New Zealand side but admits it would take something special to beat the All Blacks.

"For Romania it will be a big thing to play New Zealand as they are probably the best team in the world," he said.

"We will be in for one of the hardest matches of our lives, I am certain of that.

"But we will play with all our spirit and courage in the match and although it will be almost impossible to beat them we will try to raise our games against them to make our supporters proud.

"In the last World Cup in 2003 we were beaten 90-8 by Australia but I am certain we will not be beaten by the All Blacks by such a great score this time."

Socol is more optimistic of positive results against Scotland and in particular against Italy.

The Oaks defeated the Azzurri 25-24 the last time they met in Bucharest in June 2004.

"The Scotland match will be difficult because they have a strong team and they defeated us 48-6 in November last year when we played them at Murrayfield, but we definitely think we are capable of getting a result against Italy," added Socol.

"We beat them in Bucharest three years ago which was a great boost to us to get a result over a team who play in the Six Nations.

"They are one of the in-form teams after a good campaign in the Six Nations, have a good coach and some good players so they are favourites in the match.

"But we know we have a chance and being the underdog in the match may help us."

The Romanian forward says he is keen to help boost the profile of rugby in his homeland but feels this can only be done if they play against some of the stronger Test-playing nations on a regular basis.

Romania's greatest moment in rugby to date came in 1990 when they defeated France 12-6 on French soil for the first time but Socol admits their status has slipped since then.

"Of course the win over France was a great moment in rugby but some years later rugby in Romania is not at the level which would be the best for us," he said.

"Although we would rather play the bigger nations ten times and lose ten times than play against some of the weaker nations.

"Romania can only improve as a rugby-playing nation if they can play against the top sides on a regular basis and I hope the bigger teams would see the benefit in the long term of playing us.

"Italy for example have benefited from playing in the Six Nations and playing regularly against top teams like England and France while Romania have been forced to play against Russia, Czech Republic and lower-ranked teams.

"The Italian team's results were not the best at first but they have improved and now deserve their place there. We need the support of the bigger nations to help us develop."