Italy A and Namibia both won second victories in this year's IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest, while the pre-tournament favourites Scotland A and the Argentina Jaguars each suffered their second defeats.

The Italians saw off Georgia 21-3 and the Africans condemned defending champions Scotland A to their second defeat of the tournament, 23-20.

Both sides stand one win away from a first ever Nations Cup title - the Italians face Romania on Sunday in the third and final round at the Arcul de Triumpf Stadium, while the Namibians face fellow Rugby World Cup qualifiers Georgia. Should both win their final match, the overall winner will be decided on points difference with Italy (+20) currently holding the advantage over the Namibians (+7).

In the third match on day two hosts Romania won their first victory of the campaign, 24-8 against the Argentina Jaguars, and currently lie third in the standings.

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Italy A 21-3 Georgia - 15:00 (Bucharest)

Italy's hero of today's encounter, played in the blazing sun of the Bucharest afternoon, was their outside half Luciano Orquera, who scored all of his side's 21 points.

The Argentine-born Orquera, who plays for French club Brive, landed seven penalties - four in the first half - to become the first player in the history of the IRB Nations Cup to break the 100-point barrier.

The Italians made only one change to their winning line-up from the first match day, 21-year-old tight head prop Dario Chistolini of Padua coming in for Benetton's Pedro di Santo.

On the other hand, Georgia made eight changes to the side that beat Scotland A - five to their pack - and never reached the same levels of concentration and resolution, despite the brave efforts of Tedo Zibzibadze and his teammates. Instead they had to acknowledge defeat at the hands, or rather the boot, of a better team.

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Gianluca Guidi, Italy A coach

"We went out there to play rugby and do the basics right, in defence, in the line out, in the scrum. Regarding the attack we looked at videos and decided to make sure that we do not waste our energy, that is every time we enter their half we score. This is what we did and I am happy that all 22 players played, because we are a development team and everybody must play. They all played with heart and I wish to mention the youngster Chistolini, the prop who had a tremendous debut against a tough Georgian prop. I am a very happy man and I am lucky to have such a captain like Antonio."

Antonio Pavanello, Italy A captain

"We are tired but we are happy and now we think to the next match, which we hope to win. Like always in rugby the next match is the most important, but we have to take it step by step. Today we took another step and if we improve our attack we will be able to do well. Our defence is OK, I think we can win this tournament because in the final, it is the defence that wins matches."

Tim Lane, Georgia coach

"This is part of the highs and lows of rugby. On Friday after Scotland was a high, today was a low. We struggled in all areas of the game. We tried to play a simple game, not too elaborate, but we failed, gave away a lot of penalties and made a lot of unforced errors. We simply could not match the level of concentration of the Scottish match. We made many changes to the team who played against Scotland but something was not there today."

Tedo Zibzibadze, Georgia captain

"The Italians did not do anything spectacular, neither did we. They punished all our mistakes and we did not deserve to win. I am disappointed but we will regroup and try to win the last match. You could see that we were not there from our body language."

Scotland A 20-23 Namibia - 17:00 (Bucharest)

When Namibia coach Johan Diergaardt proclaimed on his birthday last Friday that Namibia had the potential to win this tournament, some questioned whether or not he was joking after his country's first ever win in the IRB Nations Cup. Three days on and a second victory, this time over Scotland A, has reminded everybody that the Namibians mean business.

It was the exciting Namibian back division that did most of the damage - outside half Jacky Bock, the de la Harpe brothers Sergio and Darryl, Piet van Zyl and Llewellyn Winkler all ably orchestrated by the talented scrum half Eugen Jantjies - based on a solid forward effort led by Saracens wing forward and skipper Jacques Burger.

Scotland started strongly as Bryan Rennie went over for their first try some 15 minutes into the game. With David Blair and Chrysander Botha exchanging penalties, it was the outstanding Jantjies who struck back to cut the deficit to five points. Tries by hooker Shaun Esterhuizen and replacement forward Tinus du Plessis left the Scots trailing by 10 points but led by their never-say-die skipper Ally Hogg they bounced back with a vengeance.

Replacement Greig Laidlaw scored a try, which he converted himself to cut the deficit to three points with 10 minutes to go and the Scots spent the rest of the game massed in the Namibian 22 but for a variety of reasons, from sheer bad luck to poor options they failed to score enabling Namibia to add a second scalp to their growing collection.

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Johan Diertgaartd, Namibia coach

"This was a truly great game and I would like to thank the players for their commitment and hard work. They've done a great job and showed courage and character and we would like also to thank God, because I think the luck was again on our side. Though I would say we fairly deserve to win the game we also needed some luck too and it was ours.

Eugene Jantjies, Namibia scrum half

"It was awesome to score against Scotland. We started to play together this year at a tournament in South Africa when we decided to play 15-man rugby. This was a big change for Namibia, who used to play 10-man rugby and our confidence grew as we started scoring tries.

Jacques Burger, Namibia captain

"This win is very important, especially because it is a win over Scotland. I think we have never beaten Scotland and it's a great win and I'm so proud of everybody. The game could have gone against us, Scotland had plenty of chances to win the game and in the end luckily we were able to keep them out. I think for the first time we had the players to do ourselves justice and the reason we've been one-dimensional all these years is that we didn't have the backs to do it. The guys have grown so much in confidence and that's why we're playing this way."

Greig Laidlaw, Scotland vice-captain

"Everyone is absolutely gutted. We never put right the wrongs from the first game and they came back to haunt us once again. We have to look after the ball and go through the phases and we just aren't doing that. We've now got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and we must beat Argentina. We've got to put some pride back in the jersey and we've got to put in a performance for the sake of the jersey because the two games we have played are unacceptable."

Sean Lineen, Scotland coach

"In the beginning we played how we had trained. We played well and in the first half we were ahead. But then just a combination of a lack of skill, lack of composure and being unable to handle the conditions meant we just couldn't do it. The other team got its wind up and away they went."

Romania 24-8 Argentina Jaguars - 19:00 (Bucharest)

Romania won their first victory of the tournament against the Jaguars, who slipped to their second defeat in as many games.

As the final match of the day started between the hosts and the pre-tournament favourites the notoriously fickle weather of Bucharest summer struck again, changing in an instant from boiling hot to torrential rain.

This had the effect of slowing down the play, and certainly giving the bigger and heavier Romanian pack a slight advantage in the attritional exchanges. Unfortunately, it also peppered the game with a string of unforced errors on both sides, which took the sting out of the Jaguars' back division.

By the time the down pour subsided into the second half, the Romanians were already 16 points ahead and fighting a containment battle to maintain the lead. Their plan worked too as the Jaguars kept taking the game forward, only to be let down by their own handling errors or come up against fierce Romanian tackling.

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Sorin Socol, Romania captain

"This game has helped us to recover our self belief and pride, dented by the Namibian match. We had forgotten to apply the basics as well as apply ourselves. Ultimately it is about total dedication and commitment, heart and passion for the game. These come before any tactical and technical aspects and this is why we were able to play better today. I am pleased with today's win for a number of reasons, the most important being that it made our supporters happy in the stands in a way you rarely see in Romanian sport nowadays."

Ovidiu Tonita, Romania flanker

"We played with heart today, we wanted to win and applied ourselves. We were heartbroken by the defeat in the Namibia match and decided that it was about time to show what we were made of, not me, not him, all of us. We dominated the lineout, winning all our ball and snapping up a few of theirs and also in the scrum where we felt comfortable and used it as a platform of attack."

Romeo Gontineac, Romania coach

"I hope this self belief will become a feature of our approach to matches, making the players subscribe to a plan that is our blueprint - one that makes us play from the same hymn sheet and will bring us together in most difficult circumstances. This belief will help us to play better and understand each other better. This is how we harmonise players who come from different rugby cultures and leagues, levels of fitness and skill and ultimately for a strong team."

Agustin Guzman, Argentina Jaguars captain

"We started very focused and determined and everything seemed to work out as planned. The rain did not help, but it rained for both teams so we cannot say that it was the cause of our problems. We definitely lost concentration and allowed a lot of imprecision into our game - sloppy passes, careless throws in the line out, knock-ons, and balls lost in contact. During the first part of the game, we did well and scored a try and came very close to scoring one or two more, but after half time we did nothing right."

Daniel Hourcade, Argentina Jaguars coach

"Congratulations to the Romanian team, who played very well. We played well in the first half but after a while our game lost its shape. Our lack of discipline cost us dearly. The referee penalised us 16 times, of which Romania kicked 21 points. We lost too many balls in the line out and too many turnovers."