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.”

Coach Bernard Charreyre was pleased with his side’s efforts after they finished fourth in Pool A behind Australia, Ireland and Argentina.

He said: “I’m very happy with the Romanian players. We finished the World Cup in 14th place and scored five tries. I would like to thank the Romanian players.

Namibia captain Sean Further admitted their pounding at the hands of Australia five days ago had taken its toll, although he refused to be too downcast despite finishing the tournament with no points and just 28 points to their name. “It was really tough, especially mentally. To get the guys together was tough, but we did it, we played good.

“I wouldn’t say I was proud of the team, I’d say satisfied. Some things just didn’t work so well for us.

“The support has been fantastic. To the Australian guys and the Tasmanian guys, thank you so much.”

Namibian coach Dave Waterston was again lamenting a heavy loss.

“To put it nicely, it is disappointing,” he said. “We didn’t arrive at the game until the second 40 minutes.”

He admitted that the divide between amateur and professional teams had been emphasised at this World Cup.

“The gap between the amateur and professional countries in 2003 is far greater than in 1999 where you could perhaps hold (bigger nations), but I don’t believe that could happen any more. The gap is just too big.”

ROMANIA: Dumbrava, Teodorescu, Maftei, Gontineac, Brezoianu, Tofan, Sirbu, Balan, Mavrodin, Socaciu, Petrichei, Petre, Chiriac, Tonita, Socol.

NAMIBIA: Pedro, Mouton, Grobler, Wessels, Dreyer, Schrender, Swanepoel, Lensing, Meyer, du Toit, Senekal, E. Isaacs, van der Merwe, Duvenhage, Furter.

Referee: Peter Marshall (Australia)