FULL-TIME, SOUTH AFRICA 76-0 ROMANIA. It was imperious play from South Africa for 80 minutes. Quite superb backline play and running from the try-hungry backline, but what a performance from both packs. For a side that was crushed 76-0, Romania deserve some credit for their strength and resolve, as well as their ability to run at the Boks, but they just lacked the finishing touches to earn them the score that the crowd was baying for… and don't forget that this was largely a South African second-string lineup. Two games in the Rugby World Cup 28 years apart… and a combined scoreline of 97-8 for the Boks. What a day… and what a World Cup awaits for the Boks. Thanks for sharing the excitement with us… and enjoy the rest of your Rugby World Cup!

South Africa driving hard but Romania standing firm…

Romania struggling to get any possession at the moment as it's all South Africa…

De Klerk hits his conversion well… but it rebounds off the outside of the right upright.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, LE ROUX! 76-0; Le Roux with a strong run down the right, players both sides of him… he makes to pass right but just ghosts through the Romanian defensive gate and runs through to dot down.

Springboks drive hard again…

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, DE KLERK! 71-0; De Klerk nails the kick from the left, about 12 metres in from touch.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, MAPIMPI! 69-0; Mapimpi gets a beautiful pass from Le Roux to send him over the line to complete his hat-trick. Lovely play.

De Klerk misses hit conversion from the left touchline, his kick threatening to sneak in but just passing on the right of the far post.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, MAPIMPI! 64-0; The winger gets the ball near the Romanian 10-metre line… he bursts forward, jinks around Romania's last man in defence… and races through to score in the corner, sliding over for his second try of the match and his eighth in World Cup rugby.

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, DE KLERK! 59-0; De Klerk slots the conversion from almost under the poles.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLIAMS! 57-0; The Boks scrumming about 7 metres short of the Romanian line, the ball comes out with Faf de Klerk… he runs to the left and takes him man with him, then pops a short pass inside to Wiliiams who storms through and over for the try. Beautiful rugby.

Just sublime…

The Springboks drive forward to Romania's 22, they run the ball right, Romania hold them up… and there's a knock-on so we shall scrum.

Another water break and I can tell you they need it in this heat. Tough enough just commenting on the match… it must be tough for these players.

The Boks seal possession on their 22 and Moodie drives forward through to the Romania 22… but instead of releasing a team-mate he holds on to long and a try that was set to be taken for the overlap is lost.

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 52-0; Easy as you like from under the poles.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLIAMS! 50-0; The Boks drive hard down the right, there's a lovely scissor pass for Williams, he takes it clean and bursts through the Romanian defence and over for a score under the poles. Stunning play by the Springboks.

PENALTY TRY, SOUTH AFRICA! 45-0; The ref awards the Boks a penalty try after Romania's captain Chirica breaks early from the base of the scrum in an off-side position.

With the Springbok Willemse mauling hard inside the Romanian 5-metre line, Willemse gets the pass and dashes in to score under the poles… but the TMO is having a look and there is a call for obstruction, the Springboks having to be content to have a five metre scrum.

Mapimpi with a breathtaking run through five, six Romanians until he is dragged down, but the ref calls them back for a Springbok penalty.

Romania not on the offense, driving hard through the Springbok defence, driving up to the 5-metre line with the ruck driving for all they are worth… but the ref blows up again and once again Romania spoil a great attacking position.

SUBSTITUTION, SOUTH AFRICA. Reinach gets to run off to the applause from the crowd, as one of SA's four scrumhalves, Jaden Hendrikse, gets a run.

OH! Willemse skews his conversion to the right of the far post… he was about 15 metres in from the left touchline so it was perfectly setup for him. Perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt as the weather isn't the greatest for kicking.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, FOURIE! 38-0; The Boks win the lineout and drive hard over the line for Fourie to score on his World Cup debut!

The Boks drive hard and into the corner, where Romania bundle them out of play… but it's a penalty for the Boks, and its kicked into touch or another 5-metre lineout.

The Boks drive hard and into the corner, where Romania bundle them out of play… but it's a penalty for the Boks, and its kicked into touch or another 5-metre lineout.

Romania drive at the Boks from the start, but they concede a penalty and the Boks find their touch, win the lineout and run the line…

KICK-OFF! The second half is underway… 

HALF-TIME, SOUTH AFRICA 33-0 ROMANIA. Almost totally one-sided, but credit to Romania for not giving up and for fighting fire with as much fire as they can muster. The Springboks have been superlative and looking likely to be pushing for 60-80 points by the end of the match, but Romania are fighting tooth and nail, giving it all they have. The real battle will be watching if the Boks can keep a clean sheet or if Romania can breach the Boks line a few times… and the crowd are certainly behind the Romanians. Plenty of action awaits in the second half and we'll have it for you shortly.

Romania now driving hard at the Boks from the halfway line, they make it through to the 10-metres where play breaks down and the ref blows for half-time as the rain pours down.

The kick is into the corner, Romania win their throw and their forwards power away at the Springboks, desperate for a score, and the crowd ROARSSSS their support… but Romania are penalised just short of the line and the Boks clear the danger upfield.

Lovely passage of play from Romania, taking the tackles and driving hard forward, putting the Boks under pressure… there's a cross kick for Manumua and he grabs it at the second attempt… but the Boks are penalised for a shoulder first tackle and Romania have the penalty.

Beautiful break and run from Simionescu through the Boks defence, but he's hauled in eventually. Springboks counter, drive forward and there's a kick forward for Williams to chase onto, but it beats him out of play and we'll scrumm back near the 10-metre line where the kick was made.

Boks push up into the Romania half again, this is a tough match but the Romanians are showing their strength and the crowd is loving the underdog!

… but a free-kick to Romania near the Springbok 22 as Le Roux lets the ball slip out of his hands… the heat and moisture making handling much more of a challenge than other times for the players.

After some good driving play by Romania we have a bit of gaining grounds being played by the two sides, with four or five kicks being traded each way…

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 33-0; The conversion from the left of the posts curls perfectly over for two more points.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, REINACH! 31-0; Hat-trick for Reinach!

The Boks win the ball and drive to the line, but Romania are awarded the scrum… the ball skids out of the scrum, Reinach picks it up and dives over the line…

Great drive upfield by the Boks, who arrive at the Romania 5 metre line and are battering their defenders… they win a penalty and the Boks kick to touch and a lineout 5-metres.

The Boks win the ball off the Romania drive, with Reinach clearing the danger upfield just short of the halfway line.

Romania take their penalty from just short of the Bok 10-metre line and kick to touch, to the appreciation of the crowd.

Big cheer from the crowd a Romania drive forward at the Boks, they lose the ball then gain it back, and now they're running at the Boks, two, three phases - lovely play from the Romanians. And they are awarded with a penalty… but we'll have a water break first, and a chance for some medical treatment for tired typing fingers…

Springboks drive back to the Romania 22 but are penalised, and Romania clear to the halfway line.

Springbok lineout 7 metres from Romania's line, ball taken cleanly and the Boks drive like an easy practice session and drive over the line for the score… but the TMO is having a look and Romania have a penalty to clear the danger.

Springboks are penalised and Romania take the penalty for poles… but Manumua slides it to the right - not a difficult angle about 15 metres in from the left.

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 26-0; Again no problem under the posts.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 24-0; Willemse gets the ball near Romania's 22, jinks right then left then sprints through under the poles.

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 19-0; No problem from under the posts.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, REINACH! 17-0; It's just all the Springboks, driving hard through Romania, with Reinach spotting the gap and running through 35 metres for the score.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, REINACH! 17-0; It's just all the Springboks, driving hard through Romania, with Reinach spotting the gap and running through 35 metres for the score.

CONVERSION, SOUTH AFRICA, WILLEMSE! 12-0; This time, from the right, Willemse curls his conversion beautifully through the posts, from about 10 metres in from the touchline.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, MAPIMPI! 10-0; The Boks drive hard down the right, then spread the ball left, Willemse passing to Le Roux, who switches his pass inside to Mapimpi who flies through the gap to dive over for the score.

The Springboks are rampant, driving hard at Romania and putting them under all sorts of pressure…

Not a difficult conversion from the right, but Willemse gets his bearings wrong and two points go a-begging for the Boks… although it's unlikely to be a game changer.

TRY, SOUTH AFRICA, REINACH! 5-0; Springboks awarded a penalty way inside the Romania 22 after some great attacking play from the kick-off. Springboks take the scrum and Reinach goes blindside, draws his man with ease and dives over for the score.

KICK-OFF! We're underway with the first half of South Africa vs Romania!

Our referee for today is Mathieu Raynal of France, and he will be assisted by Angus Gardner of Australia and Pierre Brousset of France. Brett Cronan from Australia is doing TMO duty.

Romania: 15 Marius Simionescu, 14 Tevita Manumua, 13 Jason Tomane, 12 Taylor Gontineac, 11 Nicholas Onutu, 10 Hinckley Vaovasa, 9 Gabriel Rupanu, 8 Cristian Chirica (captain), 7 Vlad Neculau, 6 Andre Gorin, 5 Marius Iftimiciuc, 4 Adrian Motoc, 3 Alexandru Gordas, 2 Ovidiu Cojocaru, 1 Iulian Hartig. Replacements: 16 Robert Irimescu, 17 Alexandru Savin, 18 Thomas Cretu, 19 Stefan Iancu, 20 Damian Stratila, 21 Cristi Bovoc, 22 Alin Conache, 23 Gabriel Pop.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Grant Williams, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Bongi Mbonambi (captain), 1 Ox Nche. Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Jasper Wiese, 21 Jaden Hendrikse, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Jesse Kriel.

Romania have won two of their last eight Tests, those wins coming against Spain and Belgium. But they lost their last warm-up game against Italy and were pulverised by Ireland in their opening match of Rugby World Cup 2023. Ireland ran out 82-8 winners over Romania, and there's every chance of a similar scoreline against South Africa.

South Africa have won six of their last seven Tests, their only defeat coming at the hands of the mighty New Zealand. However, in their second-last match they inflicted a record defeated on New Zealand, so the Springoks are in fine form. They also won their opening Rugby World Cup match against Scotland 18-3 last week.

South Africa went on to top the table with three wins from three, going on to win their next three matches to lift the Webb-Ellis trophy. Romania finished bottom of the table with three losses from three matches

Adriaan Richter scored two tries for the Boks in that match, one of which was converted by Gavin Johnson, who also notched three penalties. For Romania, points came from a try by Andrei Guranescu and a penalty by Ilie Ivanciuc.

South Africa and Romania have played just one Test against one another, and that match was at Newlands in Cape Town, when the Boks followed up their startling 27-18 won over Australia with a somewhat subdued 21-8 win over Romania, also at Newlands. It was with something of a second-string Bok side.

Down the years Romania have picked up some wins over Tier 1 nations such as Wales, Scotland, Italy and France. Their last such win was back in June 2004 when they scraped home 25-24 against Italy in Bucharest.

The Springboks, on the other hand, have won 36 of their 43 World Cup matches, with a points aggregate of 1512 points for… and just 553 points against. It could be a long afternoon for the Romanians!

Romania have played 29 matches in the Rugby World Cup, but have won just six match… and never more than one per tournament. Their points aggregate in the World Cup is 365 points for… and 1068 points against.

Romania played in the first eight Rugby World Cups but missed out in 2019 when they were expelled after having qualified for the tournament. They have yet to make it out of the pool stage to contest a quarter-final.

The Boks have been champions three times, lost in the semi-final twice (both times ending in third place) and have been knocked out at the quarter-final stage twice.

South Africa have appeared in the Rugby World Cup seven times, winning the trophy on three occasions. That puts them level with New Zealand, although the Springboks have a far better 'conversion rate', as New Zealand have played in two World Cups more than South Africa.

South Africa, the defending champions (and record-sharing three-time champions) – and currently the side ranked number two in world rugby — take on Romania, ranked 19th in the world in Bordeaux. It's a David vs Goliath battle… except this David's forgotten his sling at home. South Africa should pulverise Romania… but funny things have happened before in the Rugby World Cup!

Good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the 2023 Rugby World Cup group match between South Africa and Romania.