Argentina 50 Romania 3
Romania joined Canada as the second team to be eliminated from the World Cup when they were hammered 50-3 by Argentina at the Sydney Football Stadium today.
The Romanians showed some signs of improvement from their humiliating 90-8 loss to Australia last weekend but were still no match for a second-string Pumas teams that ran in seven unanswered tries.
The Pumas dominated every facet of the game, controlling field position and possession while their opponents were left to feed off scraps and had a solitary penalty from flyhalf Ionut Tofan to show for their night's work.
Argentina raced to a 24-0 lead with three first half tries then added a further 26 points in the second term as the eastern Europeans suffered their third straight loss of the tournament.
As expected, the Pumas dominated the scrums and lineouts, setting a perfect platform for flyhalf Juan Fernandez Miranda to launch the backline.
Outside centre Martin Gaitan, who was only called into the squad after Pumas captain Lisandro Arbizu was ruled out with a knee injury, charged on to a flat pass from Miranda and sprinted 40 metres to score the opening try in the 11th minute.
Miranda also set up the second try, in the 29th minute, with a perfectly-timed grubber-kick that bounced up for fullback Juan Fernandez to score.
Manuel Contepomi scored the third try on the stroke of halftime when Valentin Maftei coughed up possession then scrumhalf Nicolas Fernandez Miranda secured a bonus point for his team when he charged down an attempted clearance from Tofun immediately after the re-start.
Argentine number eight Pablo Bouza helped himself to two pushover tries, giving him four the tournament after his two against Namibia last week, while Hernandez also collected a second try on Wednesday when he skirted the defence to dive over in the right corner and complete the rout.
Argentina's win lifted them to equal second in the Pool A standings with Australia but needing to win their final match with Ireland in Adelaide on Sunday to make the quarter-finals.
Romania play Namibia in Launceston on October 30th to decide who finishes bottom of the pool.
Teams:
Argentina- 15-Juan Hernandez; 14-Jose Nunez Piossek (21-Gonzalo Quesada 60), 13-Martin Gaitan, 12-Manuel Contepomi, 11-Hernan Senillosa; 10-Juan Fernandez Miranda, 9-Nicolas Fernandez Miranda (20-Agustin Pichot 60); 8-Pablo Bouza, 7-Martin Durand, 6-Santiago Phelan (captain) (19-Rolando Martin 61), 5-Patricio Albacete, 4-Pedro Sporleder, 3-Martin Scelzo (17-Omar Hasan 71), 2-Mario Ledesma, 1-Rodrigo Roncero.
Romania- 15-Gabriel Brezoianu; 14-Mihai Vioreanu (19-Vasile Ghoic 75), 13-Valentin Maftei (22-Cristian Sauan), 12-Romeo Gontineac (captain), 11-Ioan Teodorescu; 10-Ionut Tofan, 9-Lucian Sirbu (21-Iulian Andrei 40); 8-George Chiriac (18-Augustin Petrichei 40), 7-Ovidiu Tonita, 6-Marian Tudori (20-Florin Tatu 70), 5-Cristian Petre, 4-Sorin Socol, 3-Silviu Florea (17-Cezar Popescu 40, 16-Paulico Ion 55), 2-Razvan Mavrodin, 1-Petrisor Toderasc.
Referee:Chris White (England)