Romeo loves the high after Romanian victory

ROMANIA captain Romeo Gontineac was overjoyed to end the World Cup on a high with their 37-7 win over Namibia at Launceston in Tasmania.

The eastern Europeans did all the hard work in a devastating first half as tries from Augustin Petrichei, Lucian Sirbu, George Chiriac and Ioan Teodorescu helped build a 32-0 lead as another rout looked to be on the cards for the Africans. Namibia were on the receiving end of the World Cup’s biggest-ever margin of defeat when Australia beat them 142-0 but they recovered some pride with a determined second-half display which was capped by Eben Isaacs’ try.

Gontineac was delighted to see his side register their first win of the tournament in their final match, a result cemented by Cristian Sauan’s late try. “I’m the happiest captain. I’m very pleased with the result. We’ll celebrate the first half, because we played very well but especially the second half where we played good rugby.”