No-one knows much bout two of the All Blacks' lesser opponents in Pool C - Romania and Portugal. Gregor Paul and Dylan Cleaver enlighten us.
KEY POINTS:
Portugal
There were high hopes for Portugal's "Golden Generation".
Led by charismatic winger Luis Figo and backed up by the likes of Rui Costa, Jaoa Pinto, Vitor Baia and Sergio Conceicao, Portugal were expected to take their age-group dominance through to the senior level.
Hold on a
minute. What? this is meant to be a story about Portuguese rugby, not football. Hmmm, that's a bit trickier.
There's some great Portuguese football names like Pinto and Carvalho, but rather than Jaoa and Ricardo they're Jose and Pedro, halfback and winger respectively.
Let's talk tin tacks here. If the All Blacks bring their A game to Lyon the carcass of Los Lobos - Portugal's nickname - will be left on the pitch. That should not detract from the efforts of the team to get to the start line.
Initially in a European qualifying group with Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Russia and the Czech Republic, Portugal's third placing saw them move into round five
That was a three-way qualifying face-off with Italy and Russia. Italy easily qualified with huge wins, but Portugal defeated Russia 26-23 to make it to round six, a home and away clash with Georgia.
Portugal lost the first match, but drew 11-all in the second meeting. Georgia went through to the finals and Portugal entered the repechage round where they defeated Morocco 26-20 on aggregate.
Portugal's place in the final was ultimately decided by a home and away clash with Uruguay.
Against all predictions, Portugal won the first leg in Portugal 12-5 but were expected to be easily cast aside in Montevideo. However Los Lobos restricted the defeat to just 18-12, meaning they qualified for their first finals by a 24-23 aggregate score.
And the best bit about this story - in true rugby style, they went out and got slaughtered in the bars of the Uruguyan capital, drawing themselves to the attention of the local constabulary. Several players were arrested but no charges were laid. The players involved were allowed to leave Uruguay.
You figure they will have a bit of time for drinking in France too.
Romania
There was a time in the 1980s and early 1990s when Romania were threatening a great arrival.
The game was booming under communist rule. The army loved it, the police loved it and with men of both these institutions afforded plenty of time and resource to pursue their leisure interests, Romania secured some famous results.
They drew with Ireland in 1980, they only lost to the All Blacks 14-6 in 1981 and they beat Wales twice later in the decade, as they did Scotland in 1984 and 1991. They even managed to beat France 12-6 in 1991.
But, just as Romanian rugby was rising, the communist regime and the economy was faltering. When General Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown in 1989 in a bloody revolution, the sport was thrown into chaos.
Economic crash hit rugby hard. They had few players in the pipeline. They didn't have coaches coming through. The game was in a bad way.
It was no surprise to see Romania struggle at the 1995 World Cup, decline further at the 1999 tournament and then reach their nadir at Twickenham in 2001, trounced
134-0.
Since then they have leant heavily on the French to guide them back to a stability. There was little or no funding to be had from the Romanian Rugby Union and virtually no corporate backers in a country where football dominates.
It was the French Rugby Union who agreed to allow Bernard Charreyre to coach the Oaks after the Twickenham disaster and since then Romania have made improvements.
They beat Namibia at the 2003 World Cup and didn't let the score blow out against Ireland.
Romanian administrators are desperately trying to build a domestic structure that supports player growth and development. There is still not much money around and there are only 1000 registered senior players.
Adding to the difficulty is the preference of many of Romania's best players to seek professional contracts in France.
It's hard to blame them. Even a lower-ranked
club can offer them an income well in excess of what they could earn in Bucharest.
One notable player to have benefited from playing in France is lock Sorin Socol who played seven seasons at Brive and four for Agen before signing up for Pau.
He recently told AFP: "The former players often talk to us of the glory days. That annoys some players but I can understand it. For 15 years, we stayed at the same level of 30 years ago. It is time for us to make up this time difference, but it will be a hard and long one."
Defeating Portugal is the immediate target at the World Cup to Italy. To beat the Italians the Oaks will need prop Petru Balan in top form. The 31-year-old starts regularly for Biarritz and is rated one of the best non-French props in the championship.
- HoS
