Romania rest big names

Fly-half Marin Dumbrava, who missed last week's 43-8 defeat by Argentina, returns to the side but captain and hooker Marius Tincu is named only among the replacements.

Iulian Dumitras switches from full-back to inside centre, with Ionel Cazan outside him after moving from the wing while lock Cristian Petre will captain the side for the game at the indoor Otago Stadium.

Romania, who pushed Scotland all the way before falling away to lose 34-24 in their opening match, have lost all four of their previous meetings with England, including an 134-0 thrashing in their last 10 years ago.

However, apart from 1995, they have won at least one match at every World Cup and have focused on next Wednesday's game against Georgia - two places above them at 16 in the world rankings - as their best chance to maintain that record.

Gontineac denied that it was a second-string team but said he had had to balance his selections because of the physical demands of playing two games within five days.

"It's a young team (but) it's the team we trust. We trusted them before the World Cup and we trust them for this match on Saturday," he said.

"The risk would be to keep the same team because for two games we have played almost the same team and we want to share the playing time, we want everyone to enjoy the World Cup.

"Also, the team were not too happy with their performance in the Argentina game," added Gontineac, who previously slammed his players for their lack of aggression in a feeble defensive display in Invercargill.

That was all the more frustrating, the coach said, after their magnificent effort against the Scots, when they threatened a huge upset as they fought back to lead with six minutes to go.

Gontineac, who played in four World Cups before taking over the coaching of the national team in 2010, said he was stressing the need for his players to keep going for the full 80 minutes after seeing so many of the lesser teams at the tournament fall away in the final quarter.

"We had a very good preparation for the World Cup but you just need 30 seconds' loss of attention - that's huge at this level," he said.

"We want these players to prove that they are good enough to play even against England, one of the best teams in the world.

"We want to achieve what we had in the first game, consistency, and to prepare for a very good game against Georgia."

England manager Martin Johnson will name his team later on Thursday, with Mike Tindall expected to return at centre.

Team: 15-Florin Adrian Vlaicu, 14-Stefan Eugen Ciuntu, 13-Ionel Cazan, 12-Iulian Dumitras,11-Adrian Marian Apostol, 10-Marin Danut Dumbrava; 9-Lucian Mihai Sirbu, 8-Ovidiu Tonita, 7-Cosmin Aurel Ratiu, 6-Sandu Stelian Burcea, 5-Cristian Constantin Petre (captain), 4-Valentin Poparlan, 3-Silviu Florea, 2-Bogdan Zebega Suman, 1-Nicolae Nere.

Replacements: 16-Marius Tincu, 17-Paulica Ion, 18-Mihai Macovei, 19-Daniel Gabriel Ianus, 20-Valentin Nicolae Calafeteanu, 21-Csaba Minya Gal, 22-Catalin Marius Nicolae.