When it comes to rugby they are not necessarily that fussed about supporting underdogs in Leicester, but when they see those underdogs reverting to the maul to fight their way back into a match that is a different matter.
The manner of the score that sparked Romania’s late comeback win was, then a vital element as their pack powered over from a close range lineout to get the scoreboard moving in their favour and definitely shift the momentum at the Leicester City Stadium.
They had fallen three scores behind to the sort of scores Pro12 audiences have been used to for some time, well taken tries by former Glasgow Warriors wing DTH van der Merwe and Ospreys counterpart Jeff Hassler, allied to a penalty from Gordon McRorie and the conversion of Hassler’s early second half score by Nathan Hirayama which had made it 15-0.
Ex-Edinburgh head coach Lynn Howells, who is now in charge of Romania, had said his men must stick to their game and having played second fiddle to the higher tempo play of their opponents to that point they seized their chance to impose themselves when the pace of Canadian play dropped, as it had to.
That maul got them back into the match, skipper Mihai Macovei carrying the ball over and they were already very much on top when Jebb Sinclair was sin-binned for collapsing another maul illegally.
Their pressure paid once more when Macovei broke off the back of a disintegrating close range scrum and, stopped short by two men a yard short, threw out a out a huge, ball-filled paw to thump it onto the line, Florin Vlaicu again converting.
The centre had missed a couple of long range first half penalty attempts but when yet another maul earned a penalty, 40 metres out wide on the left, he commendably held himself together to clinch what had at one stage looked an unlikely win.
In the day’s other match Fiji finally got the victory their contribution to the tournament had fully merited, as they registered the bonus point by half-time and rattled in seven tries against a game Uruguayan side that has been done no favours it the scheduling but showed considerable pride in registering two tries.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel