Portugal were denied their first World Cup win as Romania came from behind to edge a keenly fought Pool C match.

Romania made a host of mistakes in the opening half and Joaquim Ferreira went over to put Portugal ahead in Toulouse.

Portugal were strong in defence but their resistance was broken when Marius Tincu barged over with 16 minutes left.

Goncalo Malheiro put Portugal back in front with a penalty but Romania sealed the win through Florin Corodeanu’s close-range try late on.

Portugal, playing in their first World Cup, had suffered heavy defeats in their opening three games but fancied their chances of victory following an error-strewn display by their opponents.
 
The Romanians dominated possession and territory but they could not get any momentum in the opening exchanges and had to rely on a succession of aimless punts forward.

And Ferreira made them pay with a try on 20 minutes as Romania threw long and wayward at a line-out.

Romania continued to try to get back into the game in the second half and the video referee turned down appeals for a try when Sorin Socol lost the ball as he was bundled over.

The gameplans for both sides were pretty much the same and with the backs seeing little of the ball, it was up to the forwards to make ground.

And abrasive hooker Tincu got Romania on the board with a try before Portugal’s Malheiro made the score 7-10 with a penalty on 68 minutes.

With the Toulouse crowd roaring them on, Portugal battled to retain their advantage but Corodeanu’s late score was just enough for his side to deny Portugal an historic victory.

Romania and Portugal will go head-to-head looking for their first win of the World Cup in Toulouse.The Romanians have more experience but go into the Pool C contest missing two key men through injury - fly-half Ionut Tofan and prop Petru Balan.

Portugal’s hopes have been hit by the withdrawal of their captain Vasco Uva, who broke his left hand against Italy.

Pedro Leal returns at full-back, Miguel Portela starts on the wing and Diogo Coutinho takes over from Uva.

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Romania: Dumitras; Nicolae, Dimofte, Gontineac, Fercu; Dumbrava, Calafeteanu; Popescu, Mavrodin, B Balan, Ratiu, Petre, Tudori, Manta, Tonita.
Replacements: Tincu, Ion, Socol, Corodeanu, Sirbu, Vlaicu, Brezoianu.

Portugal: Leal; Mateus, Sousa, Mateus, Portela; Cardoso Pinto, Jose Pinto; Cordeiro, Ferreira (capt), Spachuck, Goncalo Uva, Penalva, Coutinho, Joao Uva, Girao.
Replacements: Mure, Correia, Palha, Murinello, Pissarra, Malheiro, Carvalho

Italy warmed up for their crunch group game with Scotland with another disjointed victory over a determined and well-organised Portugal in Paris.

The Azzurri got off to the perfect start, with Andrea Masi scoring early, but failed to cross again in the first half despite dominating possession.

Portugal battled back and David Penalva scored a deserved try on 33 minutes.

Italy slowly regrouped after the break and late tries from Mauro Bergamasco and Masi sealed an unconvincing win.

Pierre Berbizier’s side have started the World Cup slowly, with poor displays against New Zealand and Romania, but were expected to roll over minnows Portugal - a team ranked 13 places below Italy who had shipped 164 points in their opening two games.

And the Italians must have been thinking of matching the 83-0 scoreline they recorded against Portugal last year when Masi found a penetrating line to cut through the defence after three minutes.

But Portugal were not going to roll over for anyone and played with the passion and grit they showed in their honourable defeats by Scotland and New Zealand.

Italy’s cause was not helped by the sin-binning of skipper Marco Bortolami for punching and despite having all of the territory, they struggled to find the incision to break open Portugal.

Scrum-half Alessandro Troncon, becoming the first Italian to win 100 caps, won a penalty for his side with a charge on 16 minutes and David Bortolussi collected the three points.

Bortolussi added further penalties on 17 and 29 minutes but Portugal started to play some rugby of their own.

Replacement centre Diogo Gama played in Penalva who finished off a fine move to send the Parc des Princes crowd into raptures.
Bortolussi increased Italy’s lead on the stroke of half time but his side continued their error-strewn display after the break.

The full-back made the score 19-5 on 63 minutes and the game was only truly safe when Bergamasco was bundled over after a rolling maul with seven minutes to go.

The win was completed in the closing moments when Masi touched down after Roland de Marigny’s deft chip but Italy may rue their failure to record a bonus point

Italy will be looking to build on their narrow victory over Romania when they take on Portugal in their Rugby World Cup Pool C clash in Paris.

Alessandro Troncon will earn his 100th Test cap when he lines up for Italy against Portugal in the World Cup Pool C match at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.The 34-year-old scrum-half returns to the Azzurri’s starting XV after dropping to the bench for their 24-18 win over Romania in Marseille last week.

Only seven of the team that scraped to victory over the Romanians are retained by coach Pierre Berbizier.

Behind the scrum, full-back David Bortolussi and centre Gonzalo Canale are spared the drop, while experienced quintet Andrea Lo Cicero, Martin Castrogiovanni, Marco Bortolami, Mauro Bergamasco and Sergio Parisse are the survivors in the pack.

Parisse will move to openside flanker to accommodate the inclusion of number eight Manoa Vosawai, while Carlo Del Fava comes in at lock and Leonardo Ghiraldini at hooker.

Pablo Canavosio and Matteo Pratichetti are the new wingers and Andrea Masi replaces Mirco Bergamasco in midfield.

Roland de Marigny, who started for the Italians in their defeat to New Zealand in Marseille a week and a half ago, returns at fly-half.

Portugal coach Tomaz Morais has rung the changes for the clash at the Parc des Princes.

There are only six survivors from the team that were defeated 108-13 by New Zealand in Lyon on Saturday.

Winger Antonio Aguilar and centre Diogo Mateus retain their places in the back division, while Morais keeps faith with hooker Joao Correia, prop Ruben Spachuck, lock Goncalo Uva and number eight Vasco Uva in the pack.

Prop Rui Cordeiro, who scored a try against New Zealand, and goal-kicking fly-half Duarte Pinto are two of the players recalled.

The match will be tournament debutants Portugal’s third in 11 days. Their loss to the All Blacks was preceded by a 56-10 defeat to Scotland.

Italy: D Bortolussi; P Canavosio, G Canale, A Masi, M Pratichetti; R de Marigny, A Troncon; A Lo Cicero, L Ghiraldini, M Castrogiovanni, C Del Fava, M Bortolami (capt), S Parisse, M Bergamasco, M Vosawai.

Replacements: F Ongaro, M Aguero, S Perugini, V Bernabo, S Orlando, P Griffen, E Galon.

Portugal: P Cabral; David Mateus, F Sousa, Diogo Mateus, A Aguilar; D Pinto, J Pinto; R Cordeiro, J Correia, R Spachuck, D Penalva, G Uva, T Girco, J Uva, V Uva (capt).

Replacements: JM Mure, A Silva, D Figueiredo, P Murinello, L Pissarra, D Gama, G Foro

New Zealand ran in 16 tries as they brushed aside Portugal in Lyon. Joe Rokocoko (2), Isaia Toeava, Ali Williams, Aaron Mauger, Jerry Collins, Chris Masoe and Andrew Hore went over for the All Blacks in the first half.

They then added further scores through Nick Evans, Brendon Leonard, Andrew Ellis, Mauger, Leon MacDonald, Conrad Smith (2) and Carl Hayman.

Portugal managed a converted Rui Cordeiro try to add to Goncalo Malheiro’s earlier drop goal.

The Portuguese, 22nd in the world, had eagerly awaited their opportunity to meet the world’s top ranked team and they visibly relished the chance to face the haka.

Italy had spurned the challenge when they met the All Blacks and conceded a try within two minutes, but Portugal held out twice as long before Rokocoko scythed through to score.

The winger soon added a second try, but the next score went to Portugal as Malheiro, their all-time record points scorer, drilled over a fine drop-goal.

The All Blacks, the tournament favourites, said they would be “sensitive” up against a largely amateur team, but conceding points was not part of the deal and the drop-goal had the same effect as poking a wasps’ nest.

New Zealand started to swarm over Os Lobos and, in the last 18 minutes of the first half, added further tries by Toeava, Williams, Mauger, Collins, Masoe and Hore.

Amazingly, the first score of the second half went to Portugal as Cordeiro finished off a series of close-range drives.

Duarte Pinto duly kicked the conversion to put the minnows within 42 points.

But Leonard rapidly hit back for the All Blacks and, although Portugal defended bravely, Evans, Ellis, Mauger, MacDonald, Smith, who grabbed a double, and Hayman all crossed as the floodgates opened once more.

Evans converted 14 tries and claimed a personal haul of 33 points as New Zealand finished well short of the record 145 points they ran up against Japan in 1995.