LILLE, France (Reuters) – Romania were handed another harsh lesson at the Rugby World Cup, but if they learn from their experiences they can expect to become better, coach Eugen Apjok said after Saturday’s 84-0 mauling by Scotland.
Romania have had a tough tournament in France, hammered 82-8 by Ireland, 76-0 by South Africa and subjected to a 12-try blitz by Scotland in Pool B.
“First of all we need to learn a lot of things from the first three games we have played,” Apjok said.
“The players need to be more professional and work harder on our fitness levels. After that, the level of everything else will go up.”
Romania had three players yellow-carded in the first half, two simultaneously, and were even less of a match for Scotland’s attack with a numerical disadvantage.
“I think we were in the game for the first 20-25 minutes but after the yellow cards, it made it harder for us to come back, and we started to become tired,” added the coach.
Second row forward Adrian Motoc agreed.
“It was a tough game,” he said. “We tried our best for the first 20 minutes. Then we started getting tired, made too many mistakes and got the yellow cards. It was very tough for the team to play with 12 guys.”
Romania conclude their World Cup campaign against Tonga in Lille next Sunday.
“I know we got a lot of points scored against us but I think the guys were more together for this game,” said Motoc.
“We defended a lot, try to play the game, but unfortunately we couldn’t score. We will try to get the positives out for the next game. It really is an honour to play against the biggest teams.”
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson, editing by Ed Osmond)
