Kings triumphant in Romania

On the National Stadium with its arc of triumph, on a hot, hot Bucharest day, the South African Kings from the Eastern Cape became winners of the IRB’s Nations Cup, beating Portugal 39-12 on Day Three and so ending the only unbeaten team.

Results:

Day One
Romania vs Namibia, 13-11
South African Kings vs Georgia, 31-17
Portugal vs Argentina Jaguars, 25-21

Day Two:
Georgia vs Argentina Jaguars, 14-13
South African Kings vs Romania, 27-23
Namibia vs Portugal, 29-23

Day Three:
South African Kings vs Portugal, 39-12
Georgia vs Namibia, 23-18
Argentina Jaguars vs Romania, 37-13

Final standings

1 South African Kings
2 Georgia
3 Argentina Jaguars
4 Namibia
5 Romania
6 Portugal

South African Kings vs Portugal

The final score may make the match seem easy for the Kings but in fact they had to battle against the rugged Portuguese. At half-time the Kings led just 18-12, two tries each. But as the second half wore on the Portuguese wilted and the Kings scored. That said, had Louis Strydom been as reliable a goalkicker as he usually is the score would have been much higher.

The Kings were far stronger at the scrums but the Lobos gave as good as they got at the tackle. The maul was a telling weapon for the Kings, one which the Portuguese did not really cope with.

Strydom opened the scoring with a penalty and then from a five-metre line-out the Kings mauled and then played wider to Jaco Engels who enjoyed scoring in the right corner. 

Portugal’s locks both scored tries – Eduardo Acosta and Juan Severino. From a five-metre line-out the Lobos bashed and then passed right to Acosta who plunged over, giving little Boela Abrahams no hope of stopping him. Laurent Balangue made Severino’s try with a great run at the line before passing to the lock. Between the two Portuguese tries Strydom kicked a penalty and Clint Newlands scored a try as the Kings mauled over the line.

Early in the second half Federico Oliveira was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle on Engels. This did not help Portugal at all.

When the South Africans mauled again Jacques Potgieter scored. Potgieter was a late inclusion of the side following Luke Watson’s withdrawal.

Outside centre Siyanda Grey was the leading try-scorer in the tournament, taking his total to six with two tries in this match, the first after the Kings had mauled and then gone wide left. The sceond was the best try of the match as the Kings ran from a scrum near half-way. Mzwandile Stick duid a switch with Jonathan McBean who played inside to Jaco Bekker who gavce fuirther inside to Grey who had an unimpeded journey to the posts.

The scorers:

For Portugal:
Tries: Acosta, Severino
Con: Cabral

For the SA Kings:
Tries: Engels, Newland, Potgieter, Grey 2
Cons: Strydom 2, Stick 2
Pens: Strydom 2

The teams:

Portugal: 15 Francisco Serra, 14 Adérito Esteves, 13 Federico Oliveira, 12 Carl Murray, 11 Gonçalo Foro, 10 Pedro Cabral, 9 Pedro Leal, 8 Jacques Le Roux, 7 Vasco Uva, 6 Laurent Balangue, 5 Juan Severino, 4 Eduardo Acosta, 3 Juan Murre Peke, 2 João Goncalves Correia (captain), 1 Joao Junior.
Replacements: 16 Bernardo Costa Duarte, 17 Anthony Alves, 18 Michael Dias, 19 Rui D’Orey, 20 Rui Rodrigues, 21 Manuel Fonseca Costa, 22 Pedro Silva.

SA Kings: 15 Mzwandile Stick (captain), 14 Jonathan McBean, 13 Siyanda Grey, 12 Wayne Stevens, 11 SP Marais, 10 Louis Strydom, 9 Boela Abrahams, 8 Darron Nell, 7 Devin Oosthuizen, 6 Jacques Potgieter, 5 Ross Kennedy, 4 Wayne van Heerden, 3 Clint Newland, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 André Schlechter, 18 Phumlani Nodikida, 19 Mpho Mbiyozo, 20 Danie Faasen, 21 Shane Gates, 22 Jaco Bekker.

Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France) 
Assistant referees: Andrew McMaster (Canada), Horatiu Bargaunas (Romania)

Georgia vs Namibia 

The scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries: Samkharadze, Gigauri
Cons: Urjukashvili 2
Pens: Urjukashvili 3

For Namibia:
Tries: Winkler, Bock
Con: Jantjies
Pens: Jantjies 2

The teams:

Georgia: 15 Malkhaz Urjukashvili, 14 Lexo Gugava, 13 Alexander Todua, 12 Revaz Gigauri, 11 Irakli Chkhikvadze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Bidzina Samkharadze, 8 Zviad Maisuradze, 7 Viktor Kolelishvili, 6 Givi Berishvili, 5 Vakhtang Maisuradze, 4 Ilia Zedginidze (captain), 3 Davit Kubriashvili, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Goderdzi Shvelidze.
Replacements: 16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Giorgi Nemsadze, 19 Dimitri Basilaia, 20 Besiki Khamashuridze, 21 Irakli Giorgadze 22 Beka Urjukashvili.

Namibia: 15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Llewellyn Winkler, 13 Danie Van Wyk, 12 Darryl De La Harpe, 11 Heini Bock, 10 Eugene Jantjies, 9 Ryan De La Harpe, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis (captain), 7 Rohan Kitshoff, 6 Tinus du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuizen, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Jane du Toit, 2 Bertus O’Callaghan, 1 Johnny Redelinghuys.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Esterhuizen,  17 Casper Viviers, 18 Morne Blom, 19 PJ Van Lill, 20 McGrath van Wyk, 21 David Philander, 22 Tertius Losper.

Referee: Andrew Small (England) 
Assistant referees: Vlad Iordachescu (Romania), Iñigo Atorrasagasti (Spain)

Argentina Jaguars vs Romania 

The scorers:

For Romania:
Try: Tonita
Con: Vlaicu
Pens: Calafeteanu 2

For Argentina Jaguars:
Tries: Tuculet 3, Gómez López
Cons: González Iglesias 3, Madero
Pens: Iglesias 2
DG: Tuculet

The teams:

Romania: 15 Florin Vlaicu, 14 Madalin Lemnaru, 13 Csaba Gal, 12 Ionel Cazan, 11 Catalin Fercu, 10 Iulian Dumitras, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu, 8 Daniel Carpo, 7 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Stelian Burcea, 5 Valentin Ursache, 4 Cristian Petre (captain), 3 Paulica Ion, 2 Bogdan Zebega, 1 Cezar Popescu.
Replacements: Andrei Radoi, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Valentin Poparlan, 19 Cosmin Ratiu, 20 Florin Surugiu, 21 Ionut Dimofte, 22 Catalin Nicolae.

Argentina Jaguars: 15 Joaquín Tuculet, 14 Mauro Comuzzi, 13 Lisandro Gómez López, 12 Tomás Rosati, 11 Román Miralles, 10 Santiago González Iglesias (captain), 9 Martín Landajo, 8 José Luis Basile, 7 Tomás Leonardi, 6 Tomás De La Vega, 5 Felipe Aranguren, 4 Hugo Schierano, 3 Germán Aráoz, 2 Mauricio Guidone, 1 Gastón De Robertis.
Replacements: Francisco Gómez Kodela, 17 Francisco Piccinini, 18 Santiago Guzmán, 19 Antonio Ahualli, 20 Santiago Mendez, 21 Benjamín Madero, 22 Belisario Agulla.

Referee: Jérôme Garces (France) 
Assistant referees: Andrew McMaster (Canada), Iñigo Atorrasagasti (Spain)