Rugby Union: The Eagles are stranded; USA 25 ROMANIA 27

ROMANIA celebrated their first World Cup win for eight years last night to edge past the United States at Lansdowne Road.

The eastern Europeans, down on their luck since beating Fiji in 1991, achieved their target for this tournament in a victory over their fellow Pool E minnows.

But it took some last-ditch defending to deny a stirring comeback from the Eagles.

Flanker Adrian Petrache and winger Gheorghe Solomie scored two tries each as the Romanians came back from 10-5 and 17-10 down, after the US had taken the early initiative.

The Americans staged a late fightback of their own to narrow a 10- point deficit to just two points.

But a difficult conversion chance from Kevin Dalzell with two minutes to go went wide.

And a match-saving tackle from Mihai Vioreanu, as the Eagles looked certain to land a try in the corner in the dying seconds, rescued Romania.

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