Defending champions Romania will take a massive stride towards qualification for Rugby World Cup 2019 as Europe 1 if they beat Spain in the pick of this weekend’s Rugby Europe Championship matches. On the other hand, with games against the lower-ranked Germany and Belgium to come, a home win for Los Leones would put them in pole position to go straight through to Japan.

Both sides got off to winning starts in round one with Romania brushing Germany aside 85-6 in Cluj, while Spain had to dig deep for a 20-13 victory over Russia in Krasnodar. As Romania managed to pick up a try bonus point in victory and Spain did not, the Oaks’ lead in the RWC 2019 qualification table, factoring in results from 2017 too, has increased to three points.

Defeat for Santiago Santos’ side combined with an emphatic win for Russia over Belgium, last year’s bottom-ranked team, would also open up the race for the alternative European qualification route to Japan 2019 – as the second-best ranked team in the competition outside of Georgia, who have already qualified thanks to their third-place pool finish at England 2015.

A Europe play-off against last year’s Rugby Europe Trophy champions Portugal awaits the runners-up, with the winner of that tie going on to play Samoa in the Europe/Oceania play-off. The successful team will then compete in Pool A as the Play-Off Winner while, for the loser, the four-team global repechage – and one last shot at redemption – beckons.

Georgia also got off to a winning start on the opening weekend of the Rugby Europe Championship with a 47-0 win over Belgium. The Lelos travel to Germany this weekend and anything other than a second bonus-point win would be a major surprise.

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In the Americas Rugby Championship, in-form Uruguay take on the Argentina XV – the last side to beat them 12 months ago, while rankings points are up for grabs in the other two ties between reigning champions and current ARC leaders USA and Chile and Canada versus Brazil, for whom a new all-time rankings high of 23rd place is possible.

RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP

Russia (20) v Belgium (28)

Team news

Russia’s all-time leading points scorer Yuri Kushnarev takes over the captain’s armband from the injured Vasily Artemyev in a side showing multiple changes for the visit of Belgium. Artemyev’s place on the left wing goes to Vladislav Sozonov while the other changes to the backs see Valery Dorofeev and Mikhail Babaev called up at scrum-half and outside centre respectively. In the pack, prop Sergei Sekisov and hooker Valery Tsnobiladze are handed starts and, in the second row, Andrei Garbuzov replaces Andrei Ostrokov. Andrei Temnov moves from seven to six and Victor Gresev drops to the bench to accommodate the arrival of Tagir Gadzhiev at openside.

In brief

  • Russia have never lost to Belgium in five previous outings
  • The winning margin was seven points or less the last two times the sides met
  • Belgium are on a five-game losing run at this level

Rankings predictor

While Russia don’t stand to receive any boost to their rating in victory, it is possible for Belgium to climb as many as six places to 22nd if they win by more than 15 points and other results go their way. A heavy defeat would see Russia slip below the 60-point mark and quite possibly out of the world’s top 20 ranked nations.

Germany (27) v Georgia (12)

Team news

Pablo Lemoine has reacted to last week’s record 85-6 loss in his first match in charge of Germany by making wholesale changes to his starting XV. Lemoine names an entirely new front row in Markus Bender, Gilles Valette and Felix Martel, while the other change in the pack comes at openside where Kain Rix wins his second cap. Centre Robin Plümpe and wing Paul Fisterer are the only survivors in the backline with Plümpe joined in the midfield by new captain Clemens von Grumbkow. Oliver Paine and Winston Cameron-Dow form the new half-back pairing, while the other changes see Zani Dembele and Daniel Koch called up on left wing and at full-back respectively.

Three of the five changes to the Lelos line-up from last week’s 47-0 win over Belgium come in the forwards. Prop Mikheil Nariaschvili wins his 48th cap at loose-head while Mikheil Gachechiladze earns his first test start on the blindside and Viktor Kolelishvili replaces Giorgi Tkhilaishvili on the opposite flank. In the backs, Lasha Khmaladze gets a run out at 10 and World Rugby U20 Trophy graduate Anzor Sichinava is handed his first start on the right wing in what will be his third cap.

In brief

  • Georgia have won all six previous meetings, scoring 302 points to just 22 against
  • Germany have only scored three tries in the history of games between the two dating back to 1995
  • Last year’s game ended in a 50-6 win for the Lelos in Tbilisi
  • Their 85-6 defeat to Romania in round one was Germany’s second heaviest defeat in their 91-year test history

Rankings predictor

Georgia cannot improve their rating or position in the rankings as they are expected to beat opponents that are nearly 17 points worse off than them before kick-off. However, a shock result would result in some movement, the Lelos potentially falling two places to 14th in defeat with the gap between themselves and Romania reduced to mere fractions if the Oaks win this weekend. Should Germany complete the most remarkable of turnarounds and register a historic win over Georgia they could move back up into the world’s top 25 ranked nations, on the back of a two to three-point gain depending on the margin of victory.

Spain (19) v Romania (15)

Team news

Romania head coach Lynn Howells has made only one change to the side that defeated Germany 85-6 in round one as his side look to take a giant step towards securing automatic qualification for RWC 2019. Stephen Shennan is rewarded for his fine finish late in the game in Cluj with a call-up from the bench. He trades places with Ionut Dumitru.

Spain have only made one change too, Jesús Moreno Rodríguez coming in at tight-head for the injured Jonathan Garcia.

In brief

  • Romania have won the last six meetings dating back to March 2012
  • The Oaks won 13-3 in Bucharest in last year’s Rugby Europe Championship
  • Romania have won seven out of their last nine tests
  • Last week’s 85-6 win over Germany was Romania’s third highest score in a test match
  • Spain have only won twice in 35 previous matches against Romania (13-12 in 2012 and 6-0 in 1992)

Rankings predictor

Victory for Spain would lift them up one place to 18th while a winning Romania could close the gap on Italy, the side immediately above them in the rankings, to a fraction over a point if the margin is more than 15 points.

AMERICAS RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP

USA (17) v Chile (26)

Team news

American Football convert Psalm Wooching is handed his test debut for the US Eagles at blindside flanker. Wooching replaces Hanco Germishuys as one of four changes to the pack, the others coming in the front row, where Moungaloa Huluholo and James Hilterbrand are called up at prop and hooker respectively, while Ben Landry is added to the second row. Blaine Scully has returned to his club Cardiff Blues and his place on the wing is taken by Josh Whippy with Nate Augspurger captaining the side at scrum-half.

Flanker Javier Richard leads out a Chile side searching for their first ARC win in two years. Coach Mark Cross makes four changes – split evenly between backs and forwards - to the side that lost 57-12 to the Argentina XV last time out. Claudio Iturra is selected at tight-head and is joined in the pack by second-row Nikola Bursic. Jose Tomas Baraona will wear the fly-half jersey in place of Benjamin Pizarro while Javier Lavanderos gets the nod at outside centre.

In brief

  • Chile have gone 11 ARC games without a win, a run dating back to their first game in the competition in February 2016
  • The Eagles beat Chile 64-0 in 2016 and 57-9 last year, scoring 17 unanswered tries across the two ties.
  • Gary Gold has won both his opening matches since taking over from John Mitchell as Eagles head coach

Rankings predictor

The Eagles cannot move any higher than their current position of 17th but they could fall two places if they are beaten for the first time in this season’s ARC. Big gains are within Chile’s reach if they can stop the rot and win in California, with a five-place jump to 21st possible.

Canada (21) v Brazil (25)

Team news

The Canadian pack shows one change of personnel and one positional to the one beaten 29-10 by USA last week. Dustin Dobravsky is handed his first test start at openside with Lucas Rumball now wearing six. In the backs, Doug Fraser and Cole Davis replace Guiseppe du Toit and Brock Staller at outside centre and right wing respectively.

Brazil coach Rodolfo Ambrosio has made a handful of changes to the pack, including the return of veteran second-row Diego López, whose last game was the win against Canada 12 months ago. Both wings are different too, Luca Muller and Ariel Rodrigues da Silva, coming into the side in place of Jacobus Wet van Niekerk and Robert Tenorio.

In brief

  • New Canada coach Kingsley Jones has won one of his seven games in charge of the team
  • Canada won 52-25 when the sides last met in Langford in 2016
  • Brazil won last year’s fixture 24-23

Rankings predictor

Brazil could establish another new all-time high if they win convincingly, with a two-place climb to 23rd possible. A precious, morale-boosting win for Canada would not be enough to move them any higher than their current position unless Russia, in 20th, suffer an unlikely heavy home defeat to Belgium.

Uruguay v Argentina XV

Despite not counting towards the rankings, Uruguay’s game against the Argentina XV is arguably the pick of Saturday’s fixtures in the ARC as defeat for either team would be a real hammer blow to their chances of challenging the USA for the title.

Los Teros, who are on a record 13-game winning run in tests, have made eight changes of personnel and one positional from last week’s comeback win against Brazil.

German Albanell shifts out one place to fly-half with Tomas Inciarte wearing  No.9 instead. Other than Albanell, outside centre Juan Manuel Cat and full-back Rodrigo Silva are the only survivors in the backs.

Second-row pillars Ignacio Dotti and Diego Magno keep their place in the pack as does prop Mateo Sanguinetti. Juan Manuel Gaminara gets a rare rest on the bench with the captain’s armband passed to number eight Alejandro Nieto.

Only hooker Diego Fortuny and fly-half Juan Cruz Gonzalez keep their places in the Argentina XV as Felipe Contepomi casts his eye over other members of his development squad.