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Preview: Scots v Romania

Webster will be the centre of attention against Romania

The World Cup roadshow continues on Tuesday when Scotland take on Romania in the familiar surroundings of Murrayfield.

With both sides having opened their accounts in contrasting manners on French soil, the action now heads for Scotland, as the Scots enjoy the luxury of two 'home' Pool C games.

Whilst Scotland showed early promise in a deserved win over Portugal, the Romanians showed close to nothing as they failed to impress in their defeat to Italy. In fact the only thing Romania did demonstrate in their opening game was a total lack of rugby ability.

It comes as something of a surprise then that Daniel Santamans has selected the same starting XV for this game. One can only think his reasoning lies in the fact that there is little else available to him in terms of personnel. Surely he is not giving last Wednesday's players a chance to redeem themselves, as most are past redemption!

For Scotland this game allows them a test of their pool credentials, as it were. For they have seen how a near full-strength Italian team performed against the Oaks, and now they will face the same test in the hope they will pass with flying colours.

To do that they will need to play their own style and refuse to be dragged into a macho forward-orientated affair, as that is where the Romanians thrive. For there is no getting away from the fact they have a pack consisting of more brawn than brain.

Scotland have added 'beef' to their pack this week, an acknowledgement of the task that lies ahead, not to mention the extra pace behind the scrum. With a back three containing the Lamont brothers alongside Chris Paterson and Simon Webster at centre, there is no doubt the Scots will look to run Romania ragged at every chance.

Where Italy struggled against the Romanians was not playing with tempo, and thus they allowed a predominantly one-paced side to stay in a game they had no right to stay in. You can rest assured Scotland will not make the same mistake. The Murrayfield pitch may have been reduced in size, so that it is in accordance with those in France, but it will not prevent Scotland playing an expansive and quick game.

This is not to say Scotland will be lacking in respect for Romania, they will afford them the necessary respect but nothing more. Frank Hadden has spoken of the respect leading up to the game, although he knows the approach Romania will take is more destructive than constructive.

"We will be taking them very seriously indeed," said Hadden.

"Romania are difficult to break down so you have to make sure that you don't give them anything at all, nothing to hang on to, you don't open the door for them.

"There is no doubt that they are better suited to stopping other teams from playing rugby than they are at racking up the points themselves."

Given that, the key for Scotland will be possession and patience. If they can maintain that throughout then they will eventually crack the Oaks and reap the handsome rewards. Fail to do so and they will find themselves in for a long frustrating eighty minutes of bruising rugby, hardly the ideal preparation for games against New Zealand and then the big one against Italy.

Ones to Watch:

For Scotland: Having been selected at outside centre Simon Webster will be worth watching. Never content to stay out on his wing when selected there, he is full of running and always on the lookout for work. Now employed closer to the action he will be able to play his natural game with far more ball to utilise. His pace and elusive running could well be a problem for Romania.

For Romania: He was the best of a bad bunch in their opening game last week, so Marius Tincu will be hoping he can improve on his game this time out. If he can cut out the basic errors then he will be a fine player. He has a tremendous work-rate, packs a punch in defence and is an awkward player to bring down with the ball in hand.

Head to Head: Considering they will be a long way apart on the field it may come as a surprise that we deem the key battle to be contested by the full-backs. Rory Lamont (Scotland) and Iulian Dumitras play contrasting games yet are key to their sides' structures. Lamont is full of running, is a potent attacking threat, and will look to take the game to Romania with ball in hand. Dumitras bases his game around his kicking, and what a kick he has. Give the ball away cheaply and he will send you at least fifty metres back whence you came. Although if he misses touch Lamont will be waiting to come straight back at him.

Previous Results:

2006: Scotland won, 48-6 Murrayfield, Edinburgh
2005: Scotland won 39-19, Bucharest
2002: Scotland won 37-10, Murrayfield, Edinburgh
1999: Scotland won 60-19, Hampden Park, Glasgow
1995: Scotland won 49-16, Murrayfield, Edinburgh
1991: Romania won 18-12, Bucharest
1989: Scotland won 32-0, Murrayfield, Edinburgh
1987: Scotland won 55-28 Carisbrook, Dunedin (RWC)
1986: Scotland won 33-18, Bucharest
1984: Romania won 28-22, Bucharest
1981: Scotland won 12-6, Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Prediction: It is hard to predict anything other than a Scottish victory, particularly on the evidence of this World Cup. Romania will do their best to spoil Scotland's game plan but ultimately will serve only to frustrate themselves. Scotland, if they apply themselves fully, will ease away with this. Scotland by 25.

Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Simon Webster, 12 Rob Dewey, 11 Chris Paterson, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Mike Blair, 8 Simon Taylor, 7 Allister Hogg, 6 Jason White, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Craig Smith, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Kelly Brown, 20 Chris Cusiter, 21 Hugo Southwell, 22 Nikki Walker.

Romania: 15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Catalin Fercu, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Romeo Gontineac, 11 Gabriel Brezoianu, 10 Ionut Dimofte, 9 Lucian Sirbu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Alexandru Manta, 6 Florin Corodeanu, 5 Cristian Petre, 4 Sorin Socol (c), 3 Bogdan Balan, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Petrisor Toderasc
Replacements: 16 Silviu Florea, 17 Razvan Mavrodin, 18 Cosmin Ratiu, 19 Alexandru Tudori, 20 Valentin Calafeteanu, 21 Ionut Tofan, 22 Florin Vlaicu

Date: Tuesday September 18, 2007
Kick off: 21:00 (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT)
Venue: Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Referee: Nigel Owens
Touch judges: Craig Joubert, Christophe Berdos
Television match official: Mark Lawrence
Assessor: Bob Francis

By Marcus Leach