Mindful that this could be the first of what is effectively three knock-out games in ten days, the Irish management have sought to balance the need to field a competitive side against Romania this Friday at Lansdowne Road with the desire to play as many of their 30-man squad as is practicable during the pool stages. Hence, there are nine changes from the team beaten by Australia.

With Dion O'Cuinneagain on the replacements' bench, Conor O'Shea will captain Ireland in a Test match for the first time, while James Topping, Mike Mullins (making his full test debut), Ross Nesdale, David Corkery and Kieron Dawson will all make their first appearances of the competition in this final Pool E game to decide who will accompany Australia into the knock-out stages.

The replacements' bench also includes one of the squad's two remaining uncapped players, Gordon D'Arcy, and a couple of other big hitters in Brian O'Driscoll and Keith Wood. A vacancy has been left on the bench, which will be filled by Jeremy Davidson if his back strain recovers in time, rather than Bob Casey, on the basis that the Castres second-row could benefit from a little action.

The other uncapped player, Angus McKeen, has been promoted to the bench as cover at prop, given that Peter Clohessy has been recalled at tight-head and can switch over to loose-head, leaving only Reggie Corrigan not involved in any of the match-day 22s.

The only unchanged area is the second-row, while prophets of doom will note that this starting XV contains nine of the side beaten 26-19 by Munster in a warm-up game. This includes the entire back-row of Corkery, Eric Miller and Dawson, for whom Friday's game is a big opportunity, as might also be said of Topping.

In claiming that this was a chance for all the fringe players concerned, Warren Gatland admitted this selection was a delicate balancing act. "We're trying to keep the balance right between what we're expecting to be a tough physical game from the Romanians, who have a very big pack, and just mixing players who haven't had a run and also trying to keep the flow going with players who have been playing."

Romania come into this game with the benefit of a morale-boosting win over the USA, and will almost certainly play their entire first-choice for a game they will undoubtedly target as their final.

For all the tampering, the selection of a relatively experienced and strong tight five hints at Gatland's particular concern over the Romanians' bulk up front. "They do the basics well; good scrum, good lineout. They've got a couple of very exciting players in their side, like the left-winger. The full-back is very good and Mitu at scrum-half is a very talented player. So they've got speed and strength in their side."

Trevor Brennan was not considered because of suspension, although aside from Davidson the Irish coach admitted that David Humphreys is carrying a bit of a knock, O'Cuinneagain's shoulder is still a little bit sore, while "Eric Miller picked up a slight strain in his hamstring during today and that's just a little bit of a concern."

The post-mortem into Ireland's utterly anti-climactic performance against Australia merely confirmed that Ireland hadn't been nearly accurate enough, especially with their line-out throws and at the base of the scrum, to get into the game. Gatland added that "a number of players were the first to put up their hand and say `I wasn't as accurate as I should have been and I take full responsibility' and I think that's a positive step on their behalf."

The Irish management have allowed themselves to look across the other four World Cup pools with a view to next Wednesday's play-off in Lens against the best third-place side, Gatland concurring that "the indications are that it could be Samoa or possibly Canada."

If Samoa beat Wales, then the best third-placed side will either be one of those sides, or Argentina, from Pool D. However, were Wales to beat Samoa, then it looks like the Canadians will have to outscore Samoa by 18 points while beating Namibia to claim that best third-placed slot. The Canadians also have the advantage of knowing the result from Wales before they play Namibia.

The vagaries of the competition's format don't end there, for Ireland have the advantage of knowing all the relevant results before Friday's kick-off of 7.00 p.m. and thus, conceivably, could lose to Romania while still knowing how many points they would need to score for themselves to secure the third-qualifying place.

In that scenario they would play Romania again in Lens.

Smiling wryly, Gatland said: "I can categorically deny that we will not be going out to throw the game against Romania. We will definitely want to win the match."

The loopholes in the format are such that England too, could engineer a defeat to Tonga and with their healthy points scoring tally thereby re-route themselves to the supposedly easier half of the draw via that Lens play-off.

As some-one once said of the Vietnam War, if you're not confused, you don't understand what's going on.