Ireland looking to make statement in Rugby World Cup opener against Romania

Rugby World Cup Pool B: Ireland v Romania, Stade de Bordeaux, Saturday, 3.30/2.30 Irish time – Live on Virgin Media One and ITV

On an opening Rugby World Cup weekend offering almost too much of a good thing, in that it is crammed with a quartet of pool matches which are likely to have repercussions into the knock-out stages, the world’s number one side will be making a comparatively low-key entrance.

That said, this won’t appear so to those watching from home and abroad, nor especially the sizeable advance battalion of the Green Army, who are expected to make the 60,000 sell-out at Stade de Bordeaux into a home fixture, akin to the countries’ last World Cup meeting in 2015. Then the influx of Irish supporters was such that the match, staged at Wembley, drew a World Cup record attendance of 92,000-plus which still stands. Ireland won 44-10, the margin eclipsing the previous World Cup meeting at Gosford outside Sydney in 2003, which finished 45-17.

There was a notably younger, more diverse Irish crowd that day, as there had been for Ireland’s opening game against Canada in Cardiff, before a more traditional rugby audience landed for the bigger and more defining games.

One imagines that something similar will apply in this World Cup pool campaign given the way the fixtures have again fallen. As Johnny Sexton admitted on Thursday, the prospect of a different Irish crowd – somewhat giddier and probably more colourful – also added to the sense of anticipation.

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Mind you, they’d be advised not to live up to the Irish billing abroad too excessively, or at any rate drink plenty of water and wear head protection. As fate would have it, whereas Ireland’s remaining pool games will all be night-time kick-offs in milder weather, their one afternoon game comes in a heatwave.

Ireland’s underwhelming warm-up form has made these opening two games more interesting. They don’t need to tear up any trees, but partially banishing the scrummaging blues against Samoa in Bayonne would be a start given this is Romania’s badge of honour, as would the restoration of their normal lineout accuracy.

Were this to come with some more sustained attacking, a high skill level and a handsome bonus-point win, along with a clean bill of health, Joe McCarthy giving further evidence of his immediate worth to this team and Sexton his ever-important influence, then it will be a satisfactory start.

Of course, for all his protestations that he was delighted with the win over Samoa, Andy Farrell cannot have particularly enjoyed Ireland’s struggles on that rain-lashed night in the far southwest corner of France. Certainly, he conceded that this team could do with the kind of statement win which the Springboks, France, Fiji and others have done in the warm-up programme.

“I sure hope so. It’s certainly not a concern because obviously [they were] three warm-up games with different personnel and everyone is at different stages in the preseason. It’s all galvanised to one point and this is it: the start of the competition.

“So, the performance should be one that’s a hell of a lot slicker. Let’s put it that way.”

Romania’s side is almost entirely drawn from their domestic league along with a smattering of players in the lower French divisions. Admittedly, like many of the minnows who are afforded a rare taste of testing themselves against a Tier One country, and the number one side in the world at that, a fired-up Romania will probably be a tougher proposition in their first outing than in round four, and that may apply with Tonga next week as their meeting with Ireland will be their first game.

Yet their warm-up form does not augur well for Romania’s prospects of even earning a bonus point in this pool campaign. They looked fairly limited against the USA when falling 31-0 behind, albeit they stayed in the fight and had some reward for their catch-and-drive with two tries.

Even then, Romania were beaten 56-6 by Georgia and 57-7 by Italy. Head coach Eugen Apjok has made three changes of personnel to his starting XV and a host of positional adjustments to the backline from the side which played Italy.

With scrumhalf Florin Surugiu still injured from that outing, Romania will field their seventh different halfback partnership in nine internationals this year as Gabriel Rupanu now plays alongside Hinckley Vaovasa. The latter has only started one previous Test at outhalf with his other starts coming at centre, fullback and on the wing.

The only change to the pack comes on the blindside where 30-year-old Florian Rosu comes in to win his 14th cap, while Aplok has shuffled his backline, with former Tonga Sevens international, Tevita Manumua, moving from inside centre to wing.

However, much of a stroll in the afternoon sun this may be, while Farrell would like a statement win, by the same token, he wants this match to be treated as an entity in itself as much as within the prism of their pool campaign.

“You can’t get ahead of yourself or get away from yourself. What you have to do is make sure you play the game how you know it should be played, with the respect it needs to be played in,” said Farrell.

“The game is going to throw up all sorts of different permutations, like any other game. We’ve got to be on point to be able to adapt and see the pictures in front of us.

“The game’s all about opportunities, creating opportunities, whether that be set-piece, your attack, your defence, the breakdown, etc. The more opportunities we create, we’ve got to be composed enough to make sure we capitalise on that, like any other game.”

One has the distinct impression Farrell cracked the whip this week, and that there will be a response.

IRELAND: Hugo Keenan (Leinster); Keith Earls (Munster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), James Lowe (Leinster); Jonathan Sexton (Leinster, capt), Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster); Andrew Porter (Leinster), Rob Herring (Ulster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster); Joe McCarthy (Leinster), James Ryan (Leinster); Tadhg Beirne (Munster), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Caelan Doris (Leinster).

Replacements: Rónan Kelleher (Leinster), Jeremy Loughman (Munster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster)), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), Conor Murray (Munster), Jack Crowley (Munster), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster).

ROMANIA: Marius Simionescu (SCM USV Timisoara); Nicolas Onutu (CS Vienne), Fonovai Tangimana (CSA Steaua), Jason Tomane (CSM Stiinta), Tevita Manumua (SCM USV Timisoara); Hinckley Vaovasa (CSA Steaua), Gabriel Rupanu (SCM USV Timisoara); Iulian Hartig (RC Bassin d’Arcachon), Ovidiu Cojocaru (CS Dinamo), Alexandru Gordas (CS Dinamo); Adrian Motoc (Biarritz Olympique), Stefan Iancu (CSM Stiinta); Florian Rosu (CSM Stiinta), Vlad Neculau (SCM USV Timisoara), Cristi Chirica (CS Dinamo, capt).

Replacements: Florin Bardasu (CSA Steaua), Alexandru Savin (CSA Steaua), Gheorghe Gajion (Stade Montois), Marius Iftimiciuc (US Carcassonne), Dragos Ser (CSA Steaua), Alin Conache (SCM USV Timisoara), Tudor Boldor (CS Dinamo), Taylor Gontineac (Rouen Normandie).

Referee: Nika Amashukeli (Georgia).

Forecast: Ireland by 60 to 70.