It is fair to say this has been a tough tournament so far for both of these teams.
The 18th ranked Romanian Oaks had an amazing start in the second game of the tournament, shooting to a 24-21 lead over favourites Scotland before ultimately losing by a credible 10 points. But since then they've been whipped twice, they've scored 3 tries thus far and conceded 20. Ouch.
The 14th ranked Georgians have fared a little better in their two games thus far, holding Scotland to 15-6 on a sodden Southland night, and giving the heavyweights England a real shock before succumbing to a 41-10 loss.
The teams have played a combined 5 games in the tournament and have only 4 tries between them. Their games forged on forward power in the set piece, surprisingly resilient defence and somewhat erratic goal kicking.
My feeling is that the Palmerston North crowd are going to see a good old fashioned arm wrestle, with little try scoring. I hope Welsh scribe Stephen Jones is attending this - it should be just his cup of tea.
Lookalikes! The Romanian lock Cristian Petre is a dead ringer for troubled former millionaire Terry Serepisos. The Georgian prop David Zirakashvilli could be Luciano Pavorottis's twin and the Georgian coaching staff could play Stadler and Warldorf if a Muppet movie is ever made with a human cast.
As predicted the play is uncompromising, brutal and a long way from flashy. The first half is a kick fest between Georgia's Merab Kvirkashvilli and Romania's Marin Dumbrava. Both have 4 kickable penalties in the 40 minutes but Kvirkashvilli takes all of his. The score at half time favours Georgia 12-6.
I don't think there will be too many cracks in either defence in the second half. The teams both play a very swarming abrasive defensive style, and neither set of backs seem able to consistently break the line, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong.
At the 55 minute mark I am wrong! Georgia have missed one penalty kick, but string together multiple phases to test and finally break through the poor Romanians. Indomitable open side Mamuka Gorgodze monsters through the last line of defence and Georgia open up a 19-6 lead, which given events up to now, should prove to be a winning one.
On the 64th minute that man again Gorgodze wows the crowd by trickily catching the ball behind his back, sadly his dexterity is not rewarded because the pass to him was forward, but the size of the cheer shows the crowd love this swarthy Georgian hulk.
This try has forced the Oaks to try to score by a bigger multiple of points than 3 at a time, and they make good headway in repeated forays into the Georgian half, but lack the skills to finish the job. The two kickers swap three pointers and the game ends up 25-9 in favour of a deserving Georgia. Crowd favourite ball-juggling and try-scoring hero Gorgodze picks up a meritorious Man of the Match award.
Final score: Georgia 25 - Romania 9
32 games 194 tries.
Tweet of the match - "Georgia making it look like there is only one "minnow" in this game" - @NomadCram
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