Dream debut for Cobden as Oaks’ run gathers pace
FORMER Nottingham player Jack Cobden enjoyed a dream international debut and Florin Vlaicu celebrated his 100th cap with a man-ofthe-match performance as Romania beat Belgium 33-17 in Brussels.
Cobden scored twice inside the first 21 minutes, while Vlaicu – the first Romanian to reach the ton – had a hand in both tries and scored one himself as well as slotting four kicks from five.
Trailing 14-0 at halftime, Belgium scored a brilliant long-distance try at the start of the second half and got to within four points of the visitors, but two late tries, the second from Vlaicu, settled an entertaining match.
Romania, who went into the game looking to make it three wins in a row and extend their perfect five from five record against Belgium, took the lead from their first real attack on 10 minutes.
Vlaicu spotted space out wide and threw a long miss-pass to Catalin Fercu, who shipped the ball on to Cobden to muscle his way over in the corner.
After Belgium’s Florian Piron had put a penalty wide of the posts, the Vlaicu-Cobden double act struck again.
Vlaicu put in a crossfield kick which Cobden took on the bounce, and at pace, to cruise home for his second try.
Belgium hit back after the re-start. Craig Dowsett, another naturalised Englishman, took a quick tap penalty inside his own 22 and set off on a mazy 70m run before putting in fellow winger Charles Reynaert.
Spurred into action, Romania took the game back to Belgium and after a barrage of drives close to the line, lock Johannes van Heerden eventually crashed over.
Belgium responded with a try from a lost attacking lineout five metres out. A Romanian hand slapped the ball into the in-goal area and three players dived in unison to make contact. Scottish referee Lloyd Linton ruled that tighthead Jean-Baptiste de Clercq had got there first.
Romania stepped up the pace trying to run Belgium off their feet with a high-tempo offloading game, but they couldn’t find a way through. Piron’s 42m penalty made the score 17-21 with 13 minutes before two tries from driven lineouts, the second from Vlaicu, saw Romania home.
Spain’s bid to make it to their first World Cup in 20 years received a boost with a 32-15 win against
Germany in Cologne. The victory will send Los Leones into the top 20 in the world rankings.
Mamuka Gordgodze makes his first appearance of the season for
Georgia in today’s game against Russia. He captains the Lelos who aim to stretch their unbeaten record in the competition to 28 matches.