The curtain fell on the November internationals with the groans and creaking of the pulleys and winches audible to all at Lansdowne Road.

While the fans were looking for a swoosh and some sparkle against a hugely limited Romanian side Ireland contradicted their old mantra of "putting in a performance".

If we put in a performance the scores will come is an old rule of thumb in the Irish camp. Against Romania, six tries came but many in Dublin were asking where was the performance?

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan was happy-ish. He sees the glass "as half full". He sees some new players who have emerged as credible international players, Andrew Trimble, Simon Best, Denis Leamy as a number eight. He sees the scrums and defensive effort that kept Romania from the Irish try line three times as a badge of honour for the pack.

But O'Sullivan was sure "there would be disagreement about that (his view)". Before going on to add "that we are careless at the key moment of putting away the key pass. If we are going to be successful we are going to have to be more clinical in those situations."

Openside flanker Johnny O'Connor, who celebrated his first Irish touchdown with a head role and a wagging forefinger, took a little flak for his elaborate celebration.

"My first try for Ireland," said O'Connor. "Maybe I was a bit over exuberant in the celebration. But you don't get many of them and that was a big moment for me. I don't know what was going through my head. No, never did it before. I did it and then said to myself what the f**k have I just done. Maybe I should have just touched it down and went back. It was a bit silly but it's done. I won't be doing it the next time, that's for sure."

Like most on the side, O'Connor's pulse may not be racing over the run of performances but the thinking process is always to dwell on what is positive. "What I think I got from the first two games is experience at a higher level and learning what mistakes you can't be making," he added. "I just want to move on and hope that we can get it together for the Six Nations. A lot's been learned."

Even when Ireland went behind in the first half? "We weren't particularly worried because we knew we were in the game and we were doing our thing," said the Wasps backrow. "Just gotta keep your head down. You can't just start freaking and throwing the ball around. I think the young players who came in have done very well. Trimble today was particularly brilliant. He's a class act . . . The two Bests (Neil (flanker) and Simon (prop) were good. The scrum was solid. The front five fronted up and did a good job today. That pack is right up there. It was equally as tough as New Zealand."

Neil Best, big-hearted, candid and bearing the cuts and grazes of battle, like O'Sullivan and O'Connor, chose the brighter path toward the Six Nations.

"There's some big guys on that team. I mean 125 kilos. It's hard to knock them back and it takes it out of you. We didn't want to give away a try," says the Ulster man.

"It was as physical as I thought it would be. Just before I came into camp we (Ulster) played against Biarritz. I played against Balan (the Romania prop) and I knew how good he was. I expected the rest to be the same and they were. What I leaned here was communication. The higher level you play the more important that is and it's the key to defence. Strangely if you are talking to players it puts the other team off. You almost talk them out if it."

Two months to think forward and three games to look back on. The question now is whether that difficult learning process will have moved the team on.