South Africa v Romania Prediction, Preview & Odds – Rugby World Cup

We have a South Africa v Romania prediction plus all the betting odds for you as we preview another weekend of Pool B action.

South Africa v Romania Match Info

When? 2.00 pm, Sunday, September 17^th

Where? Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux

TV Channel? ITV 1 and RTÉ Player

South Africa v Romania Betting Odds

South Africa look nailed on to beat Romania at 1/1000. Romania on the other hand will need a miracle to get something from this game as reflected by their odds of 100/1 to win. The draw is also 100/1.

Handicap Betting

South Africa: -67 @ 10/11

Romania: +67 @ 10/11

Handicap Draw: -67 @ 18/1

South Africa v Romania Preview

South Africa’s Form

South Africa are looking to become only the second-ever nation to win two successive Rugby World Cups after New Zealand did it in 2011 and 2015.

The defending World Cup champions tend to save their best performances for Rugby World Cups, having won three Webb Ellis trophies from eight tournament appearances. New Zealand are the only other team to have three victories but they have done it from ten attempts.

This year the Springboks came into the tournament as the 2nd ranked side in the world. That world ranking is thanks to having won five of their six matches in 2023 prior to the start of this tournament.

Their sole defeat this season came against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship back in July. South Africa proceeded to win their final four games before the Rugby World Cup with two victories over Argentina, a 52-16 thrashing of Wales and most recently (and perhaps most notably) a 35-7 demolition of the All Blacks in Twickenham.

In their opening fixture of the tournament, some were predicting an upcoming Scottish side to run them closer than they usually would. South Africa were only 6-3 up at half-time so a potential surprise was still in play. However, the second half was a different story as they wore out Scotland to pull away and win the game 18-3.

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Romania’s Form

Romania are the 19th ranked side in world rugby.

They are making their ninth appearance at the Rugby World Cup following their second-place finish in the Rugby Europe Championship.

Eugen Apjok has been in charge of this Romanian side since 2022 but has a tough job on his hands if they’re to win against a Tier 1 Nation for the first time since beating Italy in 2004. Apjok’s side have struggled for form coming into the tournament. They lost 17-31 against the USA before being hammered 56-6 against Georgia and 57-7 against Italy.

In this team’s opening Rugby World Cup fixture took a shock 5-0 lead against Ireland inside the second minute. However, there was to be no shock on the cards, Ireland were 7-5 ahead by the sixth minute and ended up trouncing the Romanians 82-8.

Team News

South Africa Starting Lineup

1. Ox Nche
2. Mbongeni Mbonambi (C)
3. Vincent Koch
4. Jean Kleyn
5. Marvin Orie
6. Marco van Staden
7. Kwagga Smith
8. Duane Vermeulen
9. Cobus Reinach
10. Damian Willemse
11. Makazole Mapimpi
12. Andre Esterhuizen
13. Canan Moodie
14. Grant Williams
15. Willie Le Roux

Romania Starting Lineup

1. Iulian Hartig
2. Ovidiu Cojocaru
3. Alexandru Gordas
4. Adrian Motoc
5. Marius Iftimiciuc
6. Andre Gorin
7. Vlad Neculau
8. Cristian Chirica (C)
9. Gabriel Rupanu
10. Hinckley Vaovasa
11. Nicholas Onutu
12. Taylor Gontineac
13. Jason Tomane
14. Tevita Manumua
15. Marius Simionescu

The #Springboks team to face Romania in their second #RWC2023 pool game in Bordeaux on Sunday – more here: https://t.co/aip2LcSPV3 🇿🇦🏉#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/CBSZXLQgoI

— Springboks (@Springboks) September 13, 2023

Key Players To Watch

Damien Willemse

South Africa coach Jacques Nienaber has made 14 changes from the side which won their opening Pool B match. The only player that remains is Damian Willemse, who switches from full-back to fly-half.

Damien Willemse (25) has 32 caps and 41 points for South Africa since making his debut for the side in 2018.

It is a testament to Willemse’s versatility and talent that he was chosen as the only player to start back-to-back games in an incredibly talented South African side.

Gabriel Rupanu

The Romanian scrum-half Rupanu (25) plays his professional rugby for Romanian SuperLiga club Timișoara Saracens. Having scored all eight of the Romanian points against Ireland he looks like the man to watch out for from a Romanian perspective.

Contraataque letal de Rumania y Gabriel Rupanu marcó para sorprender a Irlanda, en el amanecer del encuentro. 🏉🇷🇴🔥#RWCxESPNEnStarPlus pic.twitter.com/KgPaxDASGq

— ScrumRugby (@ScrumESPN) September 9, 2023

South Africa v Romania Previous Results

South Africa has played Romania on one occasion previously. This came in the second round of Pool A at the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

South Africa defeated Romania 21-8 before going on to claim their first-ever Rugby World Cup crown with a 15-12 victory over New Zealand in that year’s final.

South Africa v Romania Prediction & Best Bet

Prediction: South Africa 63-5 Romania

South Africa will win this comfortably, however with the amount of changes they have made I don’t think they’re likely to challenge Ireland’s 74-point margin of victory last weekend.

Best Bet: Romania +67 @ 10/11

The other game in Pool B this weekend is Ireland vs Tonga which we have previewed here.

Click Below For All Our South Africa v Romania Odds

*Prices subject to fluctuation

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