Romania will take it slow

The Oaks named a starting XV showing six changes to the side which beat Ukraine 41-16 last month, with eight players surviving from the side which lost 85-8 to New Zealand during the last tournament in 2007.

Marius Tincu, record cap holder Cristian Petre, Ovidiu Tonita, Lucian Sirbu, Ionut Dimofte, Csaba Gal, Stefan Ciuntu and Iulian Dumitras all took part against the All Blacks. That was also Gontineac’s last international as a player.

Now Gontineac has his sights set on spoiling Scotland’s bid to begin Pool B on a high. He said: “Scotland will try to play their own game. We’ll try to slow down their game and play our own game.

“Scotland is a big team, a team that has played such good rugby. We are going to try to limit them. They like to play a fast game, and it will be hard for us. But we will not drop the guns for this match.

“We are looking to [play] the most experienced team. It will be a hard match and most people didn’t even expect us to be here. We know it will be a very hard game for us.

“We need the team to be able to go forward.”

Scrum-half Sirbu will equal his coach’s record of being present at four World Cups, although he was not used in the 1999 tournament.