Hosts Romania, still battling to qualify for the 2011 Rugby
World Cup, face Africa's top qualifier Namibia in the opening
match of the nine-game, two-week IRB Nations Cup Tournament in
Bucharest, on June 11.
The hosts play at 15:00 local time and then the Argentine
Jaguars will take on traditional foes Italy in the second match.
At the climax of an enthralling triple-header Scotland A will
kick off their title defence against Georgia, also a qualifier for
next year's World Cup and the side that memorably frightened
the life out of Ireland in France in 2007.
NATIONS CUP MATCHES >>
NATIONS CUP STATISTICS >>
The IRB Nations Cup is now well-established and the hosts
Romania have taken part in all tournaments bar the
inaugural event in Lisbon in 2006. Left wing Catalin Fercu makes
his ninth appearance, while teammate Ionut Dimofte will make his
10th appearance if he comes off the bench.
The host nation finished fourth in 2007, third in 2008 and
fourth in 2009.
Lining up against the hosts,
Namibia will be making their second appearance and
hoping to start with a win in scorching weather conditions similar
to those on their home turf in Windhoek.
The Namibians finished bottom on their only previous
appearance in 2007 and along with Portugal are the only team yet to
win a Nations Cup match.
Having made their debut last year,
Scotland A are the only team with a 100% winning
record in the tournament. With an average of 24 years and 10 months
the Scots are the second youngest team after the Jaguars, nearly a
year younger on average. There are four players uncapped at
'A' level in the starting line-up - Alex Blair, Jack
Cuthbert, Colin Shaw and Steven Turnbull - and a further three in
Chris Fusaro, Fraser McKenzie and Bryan Rennie on the bench.
Italy A are the only team to have played in every
IRB Nations Cup tournament. They finished second in 2006 and in
2009, fifth in 2007 and fourth in 2008. They are also the top
points scorers overall with 251.
The Azzuri also boast the player who has competed in the most
Nations Cup matches, the record of 12 belonging to Italian hooker
Luigi Ferrao, although he is not on the Italian team sheet for
their opening match against the Jaguars.
The
Jaguars of Argentina won the tournament in 2006
and finished second in 2007 behind the Emerging Sprinbgoks. They
are also the top try scorers.
The
Georgians finished third in 2007 and second in
2008 behind Emerging South Africa.
The match between Romania and Namibia will be the 34th in the
history of the tournament. In the 33 matches played so far there
have been 1,367 points scored at an average of 41.4 points per
game. The 2006 game between Argentina A and Russia yielded the most
points (70) in a single match, as well as the biggest winning
margin of 58.
