Romania win at last

Rugby World Cup/Pool A: Namibia ended the World Cup without a win but still made history when Rudi van Vuuren came off the bench against Romania to become the first man to play in both cricket and rugby union World Cups.

Scrumhalf van Vuuren, who missed his side's earlier matches through injury, appeared in the last 10 minutes. A doctor, he played in the cricket World Cup earlier this year.

Romania dominated the first half, scoring four tries and 32 of their points. But the Namibians fought back after the break, with lock Eben Isaacs crashing over. Romania sealed victory with their fifth try in the final minutes.

They had made a flying start when lock Augustin Petrichei scored in the fourth minute after popping up on the right wing.

They surged 13-0 ahead by the 18th minute when outhalf Ionut Tofan added two penalties to his successful conversion.

Namibia briefly managed to halt the scoring when flanker Schalk van der Merwe - who tames wild lions as part of his job at a game park - wrestled Romanian scrumhalf Lucian Sirbu to the ground to save a certain try.

But Sirbu took a quick tap minutes later and dived over as the floodgates opened.

Flanker George Chiriac charged over from close range, and then winger Ioan Teodorescu went over on the right. Cristian Sauan scored the fifth try.

Romania captain Romeo Gontineac was overjoyed.

"I'm the happiest captain," he said. "We'll celebrate the first half because we played very well but especially the second half where we played good rugby."

Coach Bernard Charreyre said: "I'm very happy with the Romanian players. We finished the World Cup in 14th place and scored five tries. It is a team that needs encouragement and it can continue to improve. This young group has everything it needs to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Cup."

Namibia made history earlier in the tournament by losing 142-0 to Australia, the worst Cup losing margin on record. They conceded 310 points in four matches while scoring 28.

Their coach, Dave Waterston, said: "The gap between the amateur and professional countries in 2003 is far greater than in 1999, where you could perhaps hold (bigger nations), but I don't believe that could happen any more. The gap is just too big."

ROMANIA: D Dumbrava (M Vioreanu 51); I Teodorescu, V Maftei (C Sauan 59), R Gontineac (capt), G Brezoianu; I Tofan, L Sirbu (I Andrei 59); P Balan (P Toderasc 48), R Mavrodin (C Popescu 68), M Socaciu (S Florea 40), A Petrichei, C Petre, G Chiriac (M Tudori 47), O Tonita, S Socol,

NAMIBIA: R Pedro; D Mouton, D Grobler, E Wessels, V Dreyer (C Powell 35); M Schreuder, N Swanepoel (D Grunschloss 51, R van Vuuren 71); K Lensing, J Meyer (C Van Tonder 29), N du Toit (A Blaauw 40), H Senekal, E Isaacs, S van der Merwe, W Duvenhage, S Furter (capt) (J Van Lill 40),

Referee: Peter Marshall (Australia).