Preview: 6NB Round 4

It's the penultimate round of Rugby Europe's International Championship, the so-called Six Nations B.

The only match that looks as if it could be close is the one up in Northern Romania when the Oaks of Romania meet the Bears of Russia - neighbour against neighbour.

Fixtures Round 4

Romania vs Russia at Stadionul Municipal Botosani

Spain vs Belgium in Madrid

Georgia vs Germany in Kutaisi

Results

Round 1

Georgia vs Romania, 18-9

Belgium vs Germany, 29-22

Spain vs Russia, 16-14

Round 2

Romania vs Germany, 38-10

Russia vs Belgium, 64-7

Georgia vs Spain, 24-10

Round 3

Georgia vs Belgium, 46-6

Russia vs Germany, 26-18

Spain vs Romania, 21-18

Round 4 Details

Romania vs Russia

Romania have made only two changes to the team beaten by Spain in Madrid for this home match. Experienced Catalin Fercu, 32 years old and capped 77 times for Romania, is out and so is captain and flank Mihai Macovei, who has played 87 timers for the Oaks. Nicolas Onutu comes off the bench to taker Fercu's place and Adrian Ion takes over from Macovei as flank and as captain.

Russia have four changes one, at scrumhalf where Vasily Dorofeev drops out and three in the pack where lock Bogdan Fedotko, tighthead Azamat Bitiev and hooker Evgenii Matveev are out. Matveev and Fedotkow are on the bench.

Teams

Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Vladut Zaharia, 13 Nicolas Onutu, 12 Fonovai Tangimana, 11 Ionut Dumitru, 10 Florin Vlaicu, 9 Florin Surugiu, 8 Cristi Chirica, 7 Adrian Ion (captain), 6 Andre Gorin, 5 Marius Antonescu, 4 Johan van Heerden,3 Alexandru Tarus, 2 Eugen Capatana, 1 Constantin Pristavita

Replacements: 16 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 17 Iulian Hartig, 18 Alexandru Gordas, 19 Ionut Muresan, 20 Dorin Lazar, 21 Alexandru Tigla, 22 Ionel Melinte, 23 Vladut Popa

Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (captain), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitrii Gerasimov, 11 Mikhail Babaev, 10 Iurii Kushnarev, 9 Dmitrii Perov, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Anton Sychev, 5 Andrei Garbuzov, 4 Andrey Ostrikov, 3 Vladimir Podrezov, 2 Stanislav Selskii, 1 Andrei Polivalov

Replacements: 16 Evgenii Matveev, 17 Evgeny Mishechkin, 18 Innokentiy Zykov, 19 Bogdan Fedotko, 20 Vitaly Zhivatov, 21 Alexey Shcherban, 22 Ramil Gaisin, 23 Viktor Kononov

Date: Saturday, 9 March 2019

Kick-off: 14:00

Venue: Stadionul Municipal Botosani

Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 17°C, dropping to 6°C

Referee: Pierre Brousset (France)

Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France), Luc Ramos (France)

Citing commissioner: Wayne Sheridan (Ireland)

Spain vs Belgium

Spain have changed six in their side, including both halfbacks.

Only three of the Belgian pack have survived - Thomas Dienst, Bertrand Billi and Gillian Benoy. And only Tuur Moelants will be taking his seat on the bench again this week.

Teams

Spain: 15 Bradley-Dean Linklater, 14 Julen Goia, 13 Fabien Perrin, 12 Alvar Gimeno, 11 Jordi Jorba, 10 Sebastien Rouet, 9 Guillaume Rouet, 8 Oier Goia, 7 Lucas Guillame, 6 Pierre Barthere, 5 Mickael De Marco, 4 Victor Sánchez, 3 Xerom Civil, 2 Benat Auzqui,1 Fernando López (captain)

Replacements: 16 JeanBaptiste Custoja, 17 Quentin Garcia, 18 Michael Walker-Fitton, 19 Manu Mora, 20 Lucas Rubio, 21 David Mele, 22 Andrea Rabago, 23 Jon Zabala

Belgium: 15 Vincent Hart, 14 Thomas Wallraf, 13 Louis de Moffarts, 12 Ervin Muric, 11 Craig Dowsett, 10 Isaac Montoisy, 9 Tom Cocqu, 8 William Van-Bost, 7 Mathieu Verschelden, 6 Gillian Benoy, 5 Tom Herenger, 4 Bertrand Billi, 3 Maxime Jadot, 2 Thomas Dienst (captain), 1 Jean-Baptiste de Clercq

Replacements: 16 Vincent Tauzia, 17 Alexis Cuffolo, 18 Tuur Moelants, 19 Maxime Ghion, 20 Corentin Lecloux, 21 Louis Debatty, 22 Florian Piron, 23 Romain Pinte

 

Date: Sunday, 10 March 2019

Kick-off: 12:45

Venue: Estadio Nacional Complutense, Madrid

Expected weather conditions: Sunny with a high of 23°C, dropping to 6°C

Referee: Marius Mitrea (Italy)

Assistant referees: Vincenzo Schipani (Italy), Simone Boaretto (Italy)

Citing commissioner: Bernard Jargeac (Luxembourg)

Georgia vs Germany

Teams

Georgia: tba

Germany: tba

Date: Sunday, 10 March 2019

Kick-off: 14.00

Venue: AIA Arena, Kutaisi

Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 18°C and a low of 7°C

Referee: Keith Allen (Scotland)

Assistant referees: Graeme Ormiston (Scotland), Bob Nevins (Scotland)

Citing commissioner: Richard McGhee (Scotland)