Socol back to lead Oaks
Polished Oak: Sorin Socol joins Cristian Petre in the engine room
Romania lock Sorin Socol will captain Romania against New Zealand in Toulouse on Saturday after being restored to the second row.
Socol missed Romania's narrow 14-10 victory over Portugal but returns to the side as one of nine changes made by head coach Daniel Santamans.
Prop Bogdan Balan keeps his place but moves across the front row to loose-head while flanker Florin Corodeanu switches to the openside.
Second row Cristian Petre, number eight Ovidiu Tonita, centre Romeo Gontineac and full-back Iulian Dumitras are the other survivors from the Portugal game.
Meanwhile, wing Stefan Ciuntu will win his first cap in Saturday.
"For a rugby player this is a unique moment in my career," he said.
"It's something unforgettable, and I'm very happy.
"First of all, I want to thank the coach for giving me a chance to play this match. My hope for the match is not to disappoint him or my team-mates.
"For me, they [the All Blacks] are all heroes, but especially Joe Rokocoko.
"I hope to meet him as my opposite number and defend well against him."
Romania and New Zealand have only met once before, in Bucharest in 1981, with All Blacks winning 14-6 with tries from Jamie Salmon and Andy Dalton.
Despite the pride, even Santamans doesn't believe his side will get that close on Saturday.
"A coach with plans for playing against the All Blacks is maybe being a little pretentious," he said.
"We need to be proud to play New Zealand and to not embarrass ourselves."
Romania: 15 Iulian Dumitras, 14 Stefan Ciuntu, 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 Silviu Florea, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Bogdan Balan.
Replacements: 16 Razvan Mavrodin, 17 Paulica Ion, 18 Valentin Ursache, 19 Cosmin Ratiu, 20 Valentin Calafeteanu, 21 Florin Vlaicu, 22 Catalin Robert Dascalu.
Date: Saturday, 29 September
Kick-off: 13:00 (12:00 BST, 11:00 GMT)
Venue: Stade Municipal, Toulouse
Referee: Joël Jutge
Touch judges: Federico Cuesta, Malcolm Changleng
Television match official: Paul Marks
Assessor: Tappe Henning

