RUGBY WORLD CUP: Romania's training base is the University of Newcastle, a more expansive, undulating, labyrinthine and tree-lined version of the University of Limerick where Ireland have sometimes been based.
Unlike Ireland's sessions near Terrigal though, their opening World Cup opponents are clearly not regarded as such a security risk. No cordon of burly guards investigating press passes. Not even a Rotweiller.
A further 120-odd kilometres up the coast north of Sydney, Romania breezily open their arms to anyone interested enough to pay passing interest in them.
"Thank you for coming," say both press officer Radu Constatantin and his youthful predecessor at the last World Cup, Florin Campeanu, who is now the team's 29-year-old manager.
They know their station in life. This evening's welcoming function for the Irish, Romanian and Namibian squads will be held in the Terrigal hotel where Ireland happen to be based.
"For Namibia it is one hour and 40 minutes, for Romania one hour and 20 minutes, but for Ireland it is two minutes in the lift from their rooms," Campeanu observes with wry humour.
"We want to be exposed to the media because we want good media," he explains, for this World Cup is hugely important for the game of rugby in his native land. Back in 1988 they beat Wales, in 1990 they beat France for the eighth time in 30 years by 12-6 in Auch, and the following year they beat Scotland 18-12 in Bucharest, but since then they have not beaten one major Test side.
After the Christmas Day coup in 1989 which ended the reign of Caucescu, gradually Romania's economy bottomed out. Due to a number of other factors, such as coaching, facilities, playing resources and so forth, so too did the fortunes of the once proud Romanian rugby team, also known as "The Oaks", culminating in the nadir at Twickenham in November 2001 when England annihilated them 134-0.
"It was a catastrophe, a disaster," reflects Campeanu, looking down toward the ground. "We reached zero level," he says, stamping his foot into the grass, "and there was no lower place to go after that point".
The following January, in what was perhaps a blessed co-incidence, elections were held in the Romanian Rugby Federation and that Twickenham thrashing prompted a root and branch clear-out; president, general security, the entire executive staff, the technical advisers for all the clubs. As the newly-elected president of the federation, Octavian Morariu was the man charged with instigating what Campeanu describes as "a revolution in Romanian rugby".
The energetic, progressive Morariu (42), had worked for 15 years in France, and upon his appointment one of the first things he did was ring his French counterpart, Bernard Lapasset, to tell him, "If you still want Romanian rugby, then you have to help us."
The French Federation's response should put the New Zealand and Australian Unions to shame vis-à-vis their comparative lack of help to the Pacific Islands. They paid for the immediate appointment of Bernard Charreyre as Romanian coach, and still do - admittedly the New Zealanders do likewise with John Boe in Samoa.
Charreyre, according to the Romanians' media guide (which is written in English) is called The Little Napoleon "for his conscientiousness in the preparation of the tactical plans, for the professional way in which he deals with each match and for the individual knowledge of each player's problems".
Charreyre laid stress on what he terms the "Romanian Group", and The Oaks regained the European Nations Cup last year and beat Spain, (only losing 25-17 to Italy in Parma) in qualifying for their fifth successive World Cup.
"We are here to prove that rugby is still alive in Romania," says Campeanu. "We want to play our best team in every game.
"We will not be hiding players for the (last pool) game against Namibia. We want to show that the IRB money helps Romanian rugby a lot," he adds, in reference to the special funding of £190,000 for the World Cup in addition to the annual funding of £150,000.
This year Romania lost to Portugal before beating Spain, Russia, Georgia and the Czech Republic. Ireland will be meeting an altogether more focused and better prepared team than the one they laboured to beat 39-8 in an August seasonal opener at Thomond Park 13 months ago.
The Oaks have effectively been together since August 7th last, when basing themselves in a commando camp near Quillan in the south of France.
Having played a warm-up game against Narbonne and then played "very, very good rugby for 30 minutes of the second-half" in losing 56-8 to France, Campeanu attributed his team's poor 54-8 defeat by Wales, their third game in 10 days, to tiredness.
They then spent 18 days in "the beautiful Romanian mountains", in Poiana Brasov, and a further 10 days in Constanta on the Black Sea, where they began adjusting to the seven-hour time difference by going to bed by 9 p.m. and rising at 6 a.m.
With all their four pool games televised live on TVR2, a public channel, and the Romanian football team likely to miss out on the European Championship finals, "we have a very good chance to exploit this opportunity," states Campeanu.
Two months ago Morariu also became his country's minister for sport, and laws have been passed both to further professionalise domestic rugby and legitimise more sponsorship deals; heretofore exclusively French. The average salary, even for doctors and teachers, is less than €100 a month, but it will henceforth be possible to subsidise incomes for domestic players.
Crucially, the majority of their squad and all but two of their probable starting line-up play abroad, almost all in France. Thanks to an agreement with the French Federation in enforcing International Board regulations, none have been prevented from playing in the World Cup, despite the clubs' grievances.
However, aggressive if moody back-rower Alex Manta, who made a barnstorming break at the start of the Thomond Park meeting, has declined to travel while another back-rower Florin Corodeanu and hooker Marius Tincu have been ruled out of the World Cup by groin and knee injuries, respectively.
Although it is a younger team than four years ago, it still has familiar names, with four or five of the side which faced Ireland in the last World Cup and probably nine of the side which started in Limerick.
Charreyre has sought to develop a more expansive game, but Gabriel Brezoianu, the squad's leading try-scorer with 17 Test tries to date and who has played in every back-line position this year except for scrumhalf, is doubtful with an ankle strain sustained in training on Tuesday. The likeliest alternative would seem to be DLSP's very own Mihai Vioreanu.
Some of the old virtues remain, epitomised by the presence of the 25-year-old Biarritz loosehead Petru Balan (ranked sixth best prop in France last season by Midi Olympique) and 31-year-old Rovigo tighthead Marcel Socaciu, a former national weightlifting champion. As his 17½ stone frame trundled by, you could see why.
They have a big pack, who spent an age on lineout practice yesterday, and clearly mindful of an Irish back row featuring Victor Costello and Anthony Foley, look like moving lock Cristian Petre to number eight, and Ovidiu Tonita from the middle of the back row to openside flanker.
"This Rugby World Cup is our short-term project," explains Campeanu. "We now have to prepare for 2007, but if we lose to Ireland or Australia by 100 points then it will be very difficult.
"We need to do well, and lose by 10 or 20 or 30 points maybe, so our image will be good after the World Cup. This World Cup is critical for Romanian rugby.
"The first step was the revolution in our union. Now we have to continue it."
ROMANIA (probable): Danut Dumbrava (Steaua Bucharest); Cristian Sauan (Rovigo, It), V Maftei (Aurillac, Fra), Romeo Gontineac (Aurillac, Fra, capt), Gabriel Brezoianu (Dax, Fra); Ionut Tofan (Racing Paris, Fra), Lucian Sirbu (Racing Paris, Fra); Petru Balan (Biarritz, Fra), Razvan Mavrodin (Tarbes, fra), Marcel Socaciu (Rovigo, It), Sorin Socol (Agen, Fra), Agustin Petrichei (Perpignan, Fra), George Chiriac (Farul Constanta), Cristian Petre (Racing Paris, Fra), Ovidiu Tonita (Biarritz, Fra).
