ROMANIAN winger Catalin Sasu surprised the New Zealand All Blacks in training the other day by catching Eric Rush.
And yesterday he surprised Papua New Guinea in the final of the third-tier Bowl competition to help his country retain the trophy they won on their Hongkong Sevens debut last year.
The 25-year-old physical education student brought the Romanians back from the dead with two tries to clinch a 17-14 victory . . . after coming close to being substituted in the first half because of an ankle injury.
Papua New Guinea, who were beaten by Romania in last year's Bowl final, looked to be heading for a revenge victory when tries from centre Morea Kauna and prop forward Paul Tiensten, both converted by Tiensten, gave them a 14-0 lead midway through the first half.
As Romania launched their counter-attack, Sasu stayed down after a tackle and Romania were ready to send on replacement Constantin Petre.
But Sasu, one of only two full internationals in the squad, battled on and inspired a second-half fightback with two high-speed tries, one down the left wing and one down the right.