Canada v Romania
Pool D Leicester City Stadium Kick-off 4.45pm
Romania, last in the pool, still hold hope of finishing third and automatically qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. To achieve that they will have to beat Canada on Tuesday, then Italy on Sunday in their pool finale. “The Canada game is a semi-final for us,” said their Welsh coach, Lynn Howells. “It’s that important. The players have put in a lot of hard work and this is what they deserve.” Romania have made seven changes, for the eighth time in their past nine matches, and the prop Mihaita Lazar and the lock Valentin Poparlan will play their 50th Tests. Canada will be without their captain and No8 Tyler Ardron (knee) as they complete their pool matches with a fourth game in 17 days, hoping to keep alive their run of leaving every World Cup with at least a draw. Canada have made seven changes and the squad injury-replacement James Pritchard would appear in his fourth World Cup if summoned from the bench.
Canada H Jones; J Hassler, C Hearn, N Blevins, DTH van der Merwe; N Hirayama, G McRorie; A Carpenter, J Moonlight, J Sinclair, J Cudmore (capt), B Beukeboom, D Wooldridge, R Barkwill, H Buydens. Replacements B Piffero, D Sears-Duru, J Ilnicki, K Gilmour, N Dala, P Mack, C Trainor, J Pritchard.
Romania C Fercu; M Lemnaru, P Kinikinilau, F Vlaicu, I Botezatu; M Wiringi, F Surugiu; M Macovei (capt), V Lucaci, V Ursache, J van Heerden, V Poparlan, P Ion, O Turashvili, M Lazar. Replacements A Radoi, A Ursache, A Tarus, D Carpo, S Burcea, V Calafeteanu, A Apostol, C Gal.
