KEY POINTS:
All Blacks fans could be forgiven for writing-off the Romanians but in 1981, the Eastern block country pushed the All Blacks to the final whistle.
The two teams were neck and neck at half-time at three all but in the second half, the All Blacks pulled away with tries to captain Andy Dalton and centre Jamie Salmon.
Stu Wilson played in the game, the first and last time the All Blacks played Romania.
He said the Romanians were physical, being made up of military personnel, and the Romanians played as if they were at war.
"We got bruised a bit. It was attacking rugby. They certainly had rudimentary skills and they were reasonably fit but military fit," Wilson said.
He remembers the food in the Eastern block country was not brilliant and people qued for bread in the streets.
But one night the All Blacks were promised a big feed of steak, eggs, and chips. However, the steak didn't turn out to be what the Kiwi boys thought of as steak.
"It was four legged but it had a main and a long neck," Wilson said.
He said there was a lot of rumours about spies being around, listening into conversations.
Andy Haden also played in the game. He said the Romanians were a decent rugby side in the 1980s, challenging France and the All Blacks.
"It was a really tough game. We had just flown for 54 hours. We had to fly from here to France and then all the way back across Europe," Haden said.
He said the Romanians were well organised and had good players but the IRB have let Romania down in the same way they let the Pacific Islands sides down, despite their promising rugby skills. He said with the support of the IRB, Romania could be a strong rugby side today.
Haden said in the eighties the Romanian rugby union was being helped by the French.
He also remembers the food and said there wasn't a lot of it. He said when the All Blacks were on the road travelling between towns they came across a poultry farmer and tried to buy some chickens.
He said during their stay they were put up in a huge hotel in the style of Louis XIV with six metre high ceilings and three metre high doors.
Haden said he was walking along a hotel corridor when he heard violin music coming from a room nearby.
Inside sat rugby officials from France and Romania, a full spread of food and fine wine in front of them and a string quartet in the corner.
Haden approached the table where the officials sat and remembers the French looking particularly embarrassed.
"I said: "So this is how the rich live"," he said.
The Game:
A crowd of 30,000 piled in to watch Romania versus the All Blacks at the August 23 Stadium in
Bucharest, Romania on Saturday October 24, 1981.
Half Time: 3 - 3.
Full Time: 14 - 6.
All Blacks
Tries: Andy Dalton and Jamie Salmon.
Field goal: Doug Rollerson
Penalty goal: Allan Hewson
Romania
Penalty goal: I. Constantin
Drop Goals: D. Alexandru
