The early kickoff in the 2023 Rugby World Cup second week will be a Pool B clash, with South Africa facing off against Romania at Nouveau Stade de Bordeau on Sunday afternoon.

The defending world champions come into this match off the back of a solid performance over Scotland last week, while Romania were taken apart by the number-one ranked team in the world, Ireland.

Match preview

Following a mixed run of form in the lead-up to the World Cup, South Africa silenced their critics in their opening match of the tournament with an 18-3 win over Scotland last week at Stade Velodrome.

While the margin of victory was not as emphatic as what the Irish managed the day before, the manner in which the Springboks dominated the match against the Scots was incredibly impressive, and they will want to build on that result in this one.

Jacques Nienaber's side were dominant at the scrum and lineouts, and their line speed was incredible, with the likes of Malcolm Marx and Siya Kolisi challenging every breakdown of play and never allowing their opponents to settle on the ball.

Perhaps the only negative that they would have taken from their performance was their kicking at goal from Manie Libbok, though the fly-half did pull off a beautiful no-look kick that put Kurt-Lee Arendse in for their second try of the afternoon.

With a win over one of the other 'big two' sides in the group now in the bag, Nienaber will have the opportunity to rotate his squad here as they prepare for what could be the pool decider against Ireland next weekend.

You really do have to feel a little for Romania as they go from a demolition at the hands of the world number ones, to taking on the world champions and number two-ranked side in the space of a week.

The Oaks had no answer to the pace and power of the Irish last week, and despite their best efforts, they were beaten 82-8, which is the biggest defeat of the tournament this year by some distance.

In preparation for this tournament, Eugen Apjok's team played three warm-up matches but did not secure a victory, suffering a 31-17 defeat to the USA, followed by a 56-6 loss to Georgia and a resounding 57-7 defeat by the Italians.

During 2021 and 2022, the Oaks secured wins in six of their ten Rugby Europe Championship matches, but against a massive step up in class of opposition here, they could be staring down the barrel of another big defeat.

South Africa Rugby World Cup form:

South Africa form (all competitions):

Romania Rugby World Cup form:

Romania form (all competitions):

Team News

There has been nothing conventional about the way Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus have gone about their business, as we saw by their inclusion of four scrum-halves in their World Cup squad selection.

However, for this match, they have taken it to another unheard-of level, announcing all four of those scrum-halves in the matchday 23 lineup with Grant Williams set to start on the wing while Faf de Klerk will provide fly-half cover on the bench.

Unfortunately for the Springboks, they will have to play the remainder of the campaign without Marx due to injury, while it is still to be determined if Eben Etzebeth will recover from his shoulder injury to face Ireland next week.

Apjok has made three changes to the side he sent out against Ireland, with Marius Iftimiciuc coming into the second row, Andre Gorin named on the blindside, and Taylor Gontineac coming in at centre.

Stefan Iancu and Fonovai Tangimana are the players to make way for the new personnel, while Cristian Chirica will captain the Romanians from the back of the pack.

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

Replacements: 16. Deon Fourie, 17. Steven Kitshoff, 18. Trevor Nyakane, 19. RG Snyman, 20. Jasper Wiese, 21. Jaden Hendrikse, 22. Faf de Klerk, 23. Jesse Kriel

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

Replacements: 16. Robert Irimescu, 17. Alexandru Savin, 18. Thomas Cretu, 19. Stefan Iancu, 20. Damian Stratila, 21. Cristi Boboc, 22. Alin Conache, 23. Gabriel Pop

Head To Head

These sides have only met once in the past, back at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and the Springboks won the match 21-8 en route to the title.

We say: South Africa 68-3 Romania

Having seen Ireland take a commanding points lead last week, the Springboks will be looking to cut the deficit as much as they possibly can in this match. For Romania, unfortunately, that means they can expect a ruthless performance from their opponents here, and we expect them to lose by another big margin in this one.

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