Not a lot to be learned from that match, really. Ireland’s second string get a good run out and put in a satisfying performance. The two wings, Earls and Bowe, both looked very good and there’s a strong chance the latter has played his way back into the starting XV for France and Italy.
Romania lost heavily but weren’t blown away and once again didn’t look out of place at the World Cup. They can be more than proud of their performance today; they look like a side that could genuinely upset Italy.
That’s all from me, folks. Thanks for reading, bye!
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Full-time: Ireland 44-10 Romania
Ireland get a penalty thanks to good work from O’Brien in the tackle. Jackson quickly punts the ball into the corner. This should be the last move. Toner takes it, the maul forms, but Romania refuse to give in. Reddan goes inside to Bowe, but he’s driven back away from the line as he looks for his hat-trick. Bowe holds on and Romania get the penalty. It’s booted into touch and that’s that.
Conversion (Kinikinilau 79) Ireland 44-10 Romania
Kinikinilau takes over kicking duties and won’t have an easier one than that.
Try! (Tonita 78) Ireland 44-8 Romania
The throw goes too far, but Carpu recovers it well. The ball comes back inside and Tonita goes over the top of Jackson to score under the posts!
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77 min The maul has little effect for Romania, so they shift it inside. Surugiu snipes round the short side and gets a penalty for side entry, so Vlaicu pops it into the corner.
76 min A chance for Romania now as Murray, out of position on the wing, allows it to bounce before catching the ball in his 22 and he’s duly shunted into touch. Lineout 15 from the line.
Conversion (Madigan 75) Ireland 44-3 Romania
From just to the right, Madigan knocks it over easily.
Try! (Henry 74) Ireland 42-3 Romania
Into the corner it goes and Murphy takes the throw. The maul is far, far too powerful and it’s a very easy try, Chris Henry the man ending up with it.
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73 min Ireland rumble up over halfway before Cave dummies and slips through a gap, getting up to the 22. Surugiu dives into the ruck and plays the ball, so Ireland get the penalty out on the right.
72 min Another good effort at the scrum from Romania, so Zebo kicks clear with little front foot ball to work with. It’s returned by Fercu though and now Ireland can run it back.
71 min Bad news for Ireland: Kearney picked up a knock while scoring that try and has had to go off; Murray coming on in his place and going to the wing while Zebo returns to 15. Gal comes back from the sin-bin.
69 min Romania are still going as they surge from a scrum into the 22. It’s knocked on by Carpo, who has put in a mighty shift at eight but is puffing like Don Draper now. Irish scrum on their own 22.
68 min Loads of changes for Romania, as they empty their bench. Lazar on for Ursache, Burcea for Macovei, Surugiu for Calafateanu and Vlaicu for Wiringi at 10.
67 min Wide on the left again – Ireland, like Australia earlier, are putting a lot of width on the ball today – and Madigan’s conversion drifts off to the left.
Try! (Kearney 65) Ireland 37-3 Romania
Zebo gets some space after Reddan switches play from a centrefield scrum, and turns it on, sprinting clear and getting one-on-one with Fercu. Kearney is running the supporting line and Zebo pops it inside for the full-back to go over on the left.
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64 min More changes as Kearney comes back on for Earls, Furlong replaces White and, because Joe Schmidt is a cruel man, he unleashes O’Connell, coming on for Ryan.
Conversion (Madigan 64) Ireland 32-3 Romania
Another tough one for Madigan, on the right-hand touchline. He of the godawful hair gets it inside the far post very nicely though.
Try! (Bowe 62) Ireland 30-3 Romania
A good push from Romania, but Ireland get it quickly into the backs. Jackson comes on the loop and flings it wide for Bowe to get his second in the corner and Ireland have the bonus point.
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Ireland take the scrum. They’ll be eager for that bonus point, given that France got one.
61 min Reddan spins it inside and Cave steps neatly past his man and through the line. Ireland get up to the line and have advantage; the ball goes wide and behind the three-quarter line, so we go back for an offside against Gal. Yellow card for the inside centre.
60 min High ball from Calafateanu and Jackson jumps to take it on halfway. Ionita, the replacement wing, chases and mistimes his tackle, catching the Ulsterman while he’s still – just – in the air. It was very marginal, his foot was only just off the ground, so it’s a penalty only – very good call that by Craig Joubert. Cronin and O’Brien replace Strauss and Heaslip, while Van Heerden comes on for Lucaci. Ireland get the lineout just inside the 22.
59 min There’s been a tiny momentum shift here and Romani are on the front foot, but again it goes loose and Ireland look to attack again. Bowe stabs through for Earls, but it’s too close to Botezatu and the wing fields it.
58 min Now it goes right and loose, so Botezatu hacks ahead. Zebo goes back and recovers; it goes back to Madigan on the back foot and he tries the cross kick to Earls, but it bounces into touch on halfway. Jackson comes on for Payne.
57 min Romania look to go from the lineout inside their own half, but Jordi Murphy steals it. Left they go, but Romania drift across and shut the move down.
56 min Earls comes back on having passed his head injury assessment. McGrath is on for Healy too. We’re having another HIA though, as Radoi goes off and Turashvili takes his place.
55 min That was only cleared about 10 metres upfield, so Ireland get good position with the lineout. They maul it, but it goes infield and Carpo wins the turnover. Indeed he gets a penalty too, as Heaslip goes in at the side.
54 min Romania lineout then, five from their own line and they just about get the ball. I’ve rarely heard a crowd this noisy and I’ve been to Thomond Park. For Romania, Ionita replaces Apostol and Tarus comes on for Ion.
53 min It’s a bit scrappy from Ireland and there’s nothing on, so Reddan chips towards the corner. Apsotol goes back and collects, but his clearance is brilliantly charged by the flying Kearney.
52 min Ireland have the scrum a few metres inside the Romania half as McGrath prepares to come on, presumably for Healy.
51 min An exchange of kicks, neither of which is much cop, then Romania look to run it. Again Ireland’s defence is solid and Radoi then drops a pass from Calafateanu that was up above his head.
50 min Romania lineout then, on the right, 16 metres inside the Irish half. Kearney has gone to full-back and Zebo to the wing, by the way. Ireland pinch the lineout and Madigan looks to send a raking kick across the field to touch, but Fercu reads it and fields.
49 min Penalty to Romania when the Irish back row don’t roll away from the tackle area on the 10 metre line. There’s an injury though, as Earls has taken an accidental knee to the head tackling Botezatu around the legs and will go off for an HIA. Rob Kearney is on in his place.
48 min Having cleared, Ireland win another turnover on halfway and Healy barrels through a tackle to make ground in midfield. Ireland go for the quick offloading game and there’s a sense of inevitability when Healy knocks it forward. Romania look to go on the counter.
47 min Now it goes right and Apostol does well down the wing, handing Reddan off. They recycle, getting into the 22 and the number 14 has another little forage down that side. He’s looking dangerous, but he’s well marked. After another three phases though, Ireland win the turnover and clear.
46 min Toner is again excellent at the restart and Reddan puts it up. Romania just about secure it on halfway though and shift it left, but Wiringi is isolated and driven backwards.
Conversion (Madigan 45) Ireland 25-3 Romania
From 15 metres in, Madigan slots the extras.
Try! (Earls 44) Ireland 23-3 Romania
From the back of the maul, Reddan dinks a very cute little grubber through towards the in-goal area behind the rush defence. Earls picks it up low to the floor and goes over in the left-hand corner.
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43 min They go through the phases though, just outside the 22 but Heaslip wins the 22 and Healy (!!) kicks ahead for Earls to chase. Fercu gets back and fields it near his own line, but Earls’ chase is outstanding and the full-back can only find touch 10 metres out from his own line.
42 min Radoi’s throw is well taken and Romania get clean ball off the top. Their backs are running from deep and struggling to break the gain line though.
41 min Here we go again, Madigan gets us restarted and his short kick is brilliantly taken by Toner, who storms straight up to the 22. They recycle, but there’s a clearout round the neck by Henry and a penalty to Romania. Calafateanu kicks well to touch on the right, 40 metres upfield.
Looking at Wembley, there are at least 25,000 people at the bar.
We have a world record!
It's a new #RWC RECORD CROWD at Wembley! 89,267 here - rough estimate at 87,000 being Irish fans #RWC2015 #IREvROM
— Tom Hamilton (@tomESPNscrum) September 27, 2015
An email comes in! And it’s from a man simply called “Jonny”. I don’t think it’s Sexton.
“Hello Mr. Dan, what a great start to the Ireland game it’s been. I was supposed to be there at Wembley today with my wife and kid but I lost my ticket in a poker game to my mate down the pub the other night. He’s there with them now. I’m in a world of pain right now but your MBM is getting me through the pain caused by my gambling and alcohol addiction. Many thanks.”
Oh my.
That was 40 minutes of Wayne Jarvis-esque professionalism from Ireland. Joe Schmidt won’t be happy with a couple of turnovers, perfectionist that he is, and they probably will have wanted one more try before the break, but another half like that and they’ll be as satisfied as a man who has just eaten a massive steak and washed it down with a couple of glasses of Lagavulin.
Half-time: Ireland 18-3 Romania
It’s advantage Ireland at the scrum for an illegal pass, but they won’t need it as Madigan’s cross-chip is fielded by Bowe and offloaded back inside to Zebo, who is just scragged. That’s a great take, but when it comes back inside Madigan overcooks his pass to Healy and the prop knocks on.
39 min Ireland scrum, five metres infield and just over the Romanian 10 metre line.
38 min Earls fields Calafateanu’s clearance and gives it to Zebo. He’s turned over by an outstanding counterrruck, but then, having secured possession, it’s lost forward on the floor by a Romanian player.
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37 min It’s thrown to the back, but Romania defend the maul brilliantly. Down it goes and they get the turnover and scrum. Carpo gets pats on the back for his work in tying the ball up there and deservedly so.
Paul Devlin asks: “As a seasoned rugby reporter, perhaps you can enlighten me as to when the rules were changed. It was always the case that the forward pass was outlawed. Now however it seems to be a legitimate move. One Romania surge just past featured not one, but two forward passes out of three. A bit like watching gridiron with 15 quarterbacks.”
It’s going to take me too long to respond in full, but it’s essentially down to the direction the hands are pointing in and momentum of a player going forward.
36 min Carpo then goes offside at the lineout though and it’s a penalty to Ireland. Madigan opts for touch again, giving his side a lineout eight metres from the line, on the right.
35 min It’s a strong scrum from Ireland and Romania buckle, but Carpo picks up well at the base. Calafateanu picks up and box kicks clear off the back foot, making good ground too as he gets it to touch beyond the 10 metre line.
34 min The move comes to an end when Healy – who is back up – knocks on in the double tackle. Ah, and now he’s down hurt again after that.
33 min Bad news for Ireland as Healy is down having treatment. Ireland continue to pick and drive, but Romania are knocking them back now as we go into the 12th phase.
32 min Ireland show Geoff Parling how it’s done and throw to the back of the lineout, where Toner takes. They go for the pick and drive, looking to suck Romanian defenders in.
31 min Penalty Ireland as Bowe is taken out in the air going for a high ball. Madigan sticks it into touch just outside the Romanian 22.
30 min From the left touchline this time, Madigan strikes the near post.
Try! (Earls 29) Ireland 18-3 Romania
Oh what a pass this is from Zebo! With Ireland simply crabbing back and forth across the pitch, he whips a beauty of a pass off his right, looping it over the top and wide for Earls to go speeding over from the 22.
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28 min Ireland go left off the lineout, then back right, but it’s pretty slow stuff.
27 min Henry steals the lineout, tapping it back and Ireland can attack from halfway. Madigan stabs a low kick through and a nasty bounce sees it fly up over Fercu’s head. He goes back and takes it, but then decides to run and is wrapped up. Calafateanu clears down the left, but barely gets it out the 22.
26 min This time Madigan sticks it in the corner, buoyed by that alst maul. They don’t get to form one this time though, as Heaslip is penalised for obstruction and Romania clear to touch.
25 min Toner takes it and here comes that Irish driving maul. The Romania pack splinters and they walk to within 10 before the penalty is given. It;s against the number eight Carpo, for entering at the side.
24 min Oof. Payne gets smashed by Tonita, but the lock was up far too quickly and is pinged for offisde. Madigan goes to touch again, on the left, this time on the 22.
23 min And now it’s a penalty against Radoi, as Henry completely stitches him up in the tackle and forces the hooker to hold on. Madigan to touch on the left, on Ireland’s 10 metre line.
22 min Good from Fercu, chasing and catching his own high kick in midfield. They look to get it through the hands, but there’s a touch of hesitation and a shortage of ideas among the backs. It goes right and Kinikinilau takes it up to within 10 metres, but ignores an overlap on his right!
Conversion (Madigan 21) Ireland 13-3 Ireland
Madigan’s kick from the touchline is excellent, drifting perfectly inside the near post.
Try! (Bowe 19) Ireland 11-3 Romania
Brilliant from Earls, regathering a high box kick close to the touchline and spinning back inside. He offloads and Ireland sweep the ball right across the pitch. It comes to Bowe, who shows great strength to stay infield and ground it in the right-hand corner as Fercu looks to tackle him into touch.
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Penalty (Madigan 18) Ireland 6-3 Romania
From 15 metres in and 27 out, Madigan curls it over.
17 min It comes inside then back out from the lineout and Earls makes ground, pumping the legs and pushing the tackler back. They go through the phases, sweeping right across the field and getting over the gain line. There’s a clearout around the neck earlier in the move though and so, when it breaks down, we go back for the penalty.
16 min From the lineout, Calafateanu box kicks clear to the 10 metre line.
15 min Wiringi gives it short to Kinikinilau and he barrels into contact down the left. It’s back inside to Fercu, but he loses the ball in contact and, when it goes left, Zebo comes away at pace. It goes back inside, then out again and Zebo is put away by Strauss after a great offload from Earls. He kicks ahead and regathers magnificently, with zero space, to go over in the corner for what looks like a stunning try. Endless tedious TMO replays eventually show that he had a foot millimetres in touch though.
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13 min Mistake from Wiringi as, after the lineout, he stabs his flat kick straight into the arms of Zebo. Ireland get it to Madigan, who looks for the corner but his kick is half charged down and now Romania have it inside the Irish half.
12 min Credit has to go to Romania for that patient, well-disciplined comeback after not seeing the ball for four minutes. Ireland put width on it from the restart, but when Payne loops round the outside of Earls he runs out of space and is taken into touch by Lucaci.
Penalty (Calafateanu 11) Ireland 3-3 Romania
From wide on the left – 16 metres infield – and just outside the 22, the scrum-half brings his kick around and inside the far post.
10 min Now it’s Romania’s chance to pile on the crash balls, before the Saracen Fercu looks to wriggle his way through. He can’t, but then Payne doesn’t roll out of the tackle and it’s a chance to level the scores.
9 min Wiringi, the Kiwi-born fly-half, restarts with a short kick. It’s gathered in, but a mistake from Reddan who puts his box kick out on the full from tight to his left touchline, 15 metres inside his own half.
Penalty (Madigan 8) Ireland 3-0 Romania
Straight through it goes and Ireland have something to show for their strong start.
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7 min From the lineout, Calafateanu sends it high and hte ball bounces back to Kinikinilau. He runs into the tackle from Strauss, then Macovei, the captain, goes off his feet at the ruck. Kinikinilau was holding on too, so Madigan will have a shot at goal from 40 metres, dead in front.
6 min Gal, the inside centre, tries to gain territory with a tactical grubber kick, but it’s a poor one and Bowe fields easily. The wing threads it down the line, into touch just outside the 22.
5 min It’s a relentless start from Ireland and you wonder how long that Romanian defence can resist. It’s already a thumpingly physical start, although Strauss coughs the ball up as he can’t quite clutch on to a cute offload from Ryan inside the 22.
4 min After three minutes, Romania get their hands on the ball as Ireland knock on in the tight. Calefateanu thumps the clearance to touch and Ireland come again from the lineout, 40 metres away from the line.
3 min Now Ireland make ground as Earls comes infield and gets it to Payne outside him. Into the 22 and they look to build, going through the phases 10 metres or so out in midfield.
2 min Madigan sends up a high one and it’s tapped back to Payne from the Romania 22. Bowe looks to wriggle free, but Romania’s defence is up quickly and hitting the tackles hard.
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Peep! Craig Joubert blows his whistle and Romania, playing today in white with a black stripe down the middle, get things start. Ireland carry up towards the halfway line, with Cave stepping inside and making a break.
Wait, I didn’t think that game through. Luckily, the rugby is about to get under way!
Anyone want to play a game? It’s called “What the hell is Paloma Faith choking on when she sings the word “union”?
It’s another sell-out at Wembley, with 90,000-odd fans in there. Most of them supporting Ireland, you won’t be surprised to know. 89,019 is the record, set at this ground a week ago when New Zealand played Argentina. This could run it close.
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We have some thoughts! They are these:
@DanLucas86 Bowe & Earls will want 2 put in big shifts & plenty of quick ball, need 2 put 30-40+ on Romania, have 2 b clinical & disciplined
— John McEnerney (@MackerOnTheMed) September 27, 2015
On the telly, Joe Schmidt says they intend to give Cian Healy 50 or 60 minutes today.
29 years and 245 days. That’s the average age of the Ireland XV – their oldest in World Cup history. There have been stories going around, including on here, that it’s the oldest in World Cup history, although I’m pretty sure this Romanian side is older.
So how are you feeling, Ireland fans? I’d be pretty confident about their chances. This line up actually shows one of their great strengths: this is very much a second string team but, half-backs aside, you wouldn’t say that it was that much weaker than the first team.
Time for some pre-match reading. Paul Rees has had a chat with a Usain Bolt-inspired Simon Zebo.
You can catch the last five minutes of Scotland v USA with Michael Butler, right here. Spoiler alert: Scotland are going to win it.
Preamble
Afternoon, folks. Oh great, another one of these. I get to MBM Australia v Uruguay earlier, now another mismatch. A tier one team, these ranked number five in the world, against some no-hope chumps. Romania, ranked 17th in the world, trying to stave off wave after wave of attack from an Ireland side confident enough to make 12 changes from the side that eased past Canada a week ago. Seriously, editors, why the eff are you making me do this?
But wait, I’m being obviously disingenuous! OK, yes, Ireland will probably – probably – have too much for the Romanians today, but a walkover akin to this morning’s is by no means guaranteed. Romania may be without the flanker Valentin Ursache, suspended for a dangerous tackle against France, but their grizzly set of forwards will be more than up for a bone-crunching battle with Ireland’s gnarled and wizened pack.
France may have ended up with a comfortable-looking 38-11 win on Wednesday, but they didn’t have it all their own way. It was only when Romania were down to 14 men that they finally crossed the line and then added a gloss to the score with a bunch of late tries. And Ireland, for all their grunt, don’t have the same fizzing backs game as the French.
Still, you expect Ireland to have too much behind the scrum, even if Romania can match them up front. You expect Joe Schmidt’s men to be too fit and to outlast Romania. You expect the four-day turnaround to prove costly to Romania as it was to Japan against Scotland.
That said, you expected South Africa to thrash Japan. You expected Italy to blow the cobwebs off and easily beat Canada. You expected Tonga’s backs to be too much for Georgia. You expected the All Blacks to stop Namibia from scoring a try. You expected England to beat Wales at Twickenham. And, as I write this, the USA have just taken the lead against South Africa.
There has only been one earth-shattering shock in this World Cup so far*. But it has been a far from predictable tournament and Ireland, while they are probably going to win and do so reasonably comfortably, probably shouldn’t get too complacent. People called Romanians they won’t go the house quietly.
Kick-off is at 4.45pm BST. That’s 6.45pm for those of you in Bucharest. Your teams are:
Ireland
Simon Zebo; Tommy Bowe, Jared Payne, Darren Cave, Keith Earls; Ian Madigan, Eoin Reddan; Cian Healy, Richardt Strauss, Nathan White; Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner; Jordi Murphy, Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip (capt).
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Jack McGrath, Tadhg Furlong, Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien, Conor Murray, Paddy Jackson, Rob Kearney.
Romania
Catalin Fercu; Adrian Apostol, Paula Kinikinilau, Csaba Gal, Ionut Botezatu; Michael Wiringi, Valentin Calafeteanu; Andrei Ursache, Andrei Radoi, Paulica Ion; Valentin Poparlan, Ovidiu Tonita; Viorel Lucaci, Mihai Macovei (capt), Daniel Carpo.
Replacements: Mihaita Lazar, Otar Turashvili, Alexandru Tarus, Johannes van Heerden, Stelian Burcea, Florin Surugiu, Florin Ionita, Florin Vlaicu.
*Remind me to edit this if the USA win.
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