In the pack, Marius Iftimiciuc comes into the second row in place of Stefan Iancu, who moves to the bench, while Andre Gorin will become the 24th Romania player in the space of a week to make their Rugby World Cup debut after being named on the blindside.

The only other change of personnel comes at centre, where Taylor Gontineac replaces Fonovai Tangimana, while the two retained wings, Nicholas Onutu and Tevita Manumua, swap jerseys.

Tighthead prop Alexandru Gordas and No 8 and captain Cristian Chirica are Romania's most experienced players in the match-23 with 35 caps apiece.

Romania’s oldest and most experienced player at RWC 2023, Florin Surugiu, is still not fit so Gabriel Rupanu retains his place at scrumhalf. Rupanu’s try, clocked at just two minutes and 11 seconds, was Romania’s quickest-ever RWC try.

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