Wales 40 Romania 3

It was with a whimper rather than a bang that Wales got their 2002 November Test campaign off to a start, battling in the Wrexham rain to an uninspiring 40-3 win over the Oaks of Romania, in a win which will do little to boost optimism ahead of their upcoming date with New Zealand.

Only 12-0 up at the break after four penalties from Pontypridd's returning fly-half Neil Jenkins, the Welsh finally turned the screw to some extent in the second half, although the three tries they managed -- as well as a late penalty try -- will not have gone a long way to appeasing their many disenchanted fans.

An admittedly experimental side containing debutants Sonny Parker and Gethin Jenkins failed to blow away the unfancied Romanians, who relied on the French second division for the majority of their squad, and in the end proved difficult to break down on a frustrating evening.

The scoreline was given a more creditable look with a penalty try at the death, as well as five missed goal kicks from Romanian stand-off Ionut Tofan, who struggled to find the posts all night, succeeding with one penalty attempt to register his side's only points.

This result on the back of a 38-9 defeat to Ireland at Lansdowne Road at least gives the Romanians another competitive scoreline, but it is in Wales where the questions will be being asked after failing to rack up a big score against a side who were there to be beaten.

No.8 Scott Quinnell was the man who finally gave the Wrexham crowd something to cheer about seven minutes into the second half when he chalked up the opening try, latching onto a useful dummy from Pontypridd debutant Parker in the centre.

Llanelli flyer Mark Jones was next over as the Romanian defence continued to stand firm in the main, combining with Gareth Thomas down the left to score in the corner.

Captain Colin Charvis -- playing at openside -- was then to play a role in the third try as he and Jenkins combined to send Thomas over in the right corner, with the last-minute penalty try and subsequent conversion bringing the curtain down on a performance which lacked in inspiration, and may well leave the Welsh management going back to the drawing board ahead of their upcoming dates with Fiji, New Zealand and Canada.

The Teams:

Wales:  1 Gethin Jenkins, 2 Mefin Davies, 3 Martyn Madden, 4 Robert Sidoli, 5 Steve Williams, 6 Michael Owen, 7 Colin Charvis (c), 8 Scott Quinnell, 9 Dwayne Peel, 10 Neil Jenkins, 11 Mark Jones, 12 Sonny Parker, 13 Tom Shanklin, 14 Gareth Thomas, 15 Rhys Williams
Reserves:  Craig Morgan, Gavin Thomas, Ben Evans, Stephen Jones, Andrew Lewis, Gareth Llewellyn
Unused:  Ryan Powell

Romania:  1 Silviu Florea, 2 Razvan Mavrodin, 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 4 Sorin Socol, 5 Petre Cristian, 6 Florin Corodeanu, 7 Alin Petrache, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Ionut Tofan, 11 Vasile Ghioc, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac (c), 14 Marius Picoiu, 15 Dan Dumbrava
Reserves:  Daniel Chiriac, Marius Coltuneac, Nicolae Dragos Dima, Remus Lungu, Marian Constantin, Marcel Socaciu
Unused:  Cristian Podea

Referee:  Jutge j.

Points Scorers:

Wales
Tries:  Jones M.A. 1, Penalty try 1, Quinnell L.S. 1, Thomas G. 1
Conv:  Jenkins N.R. 4
Pen K.:  Jenkins N.R. 4

Romania
Pen K.:  Tofan I.R. 1