Andy Farrell’s side need to produce a little more than a stroll in the Bordeaux sun after mixed warm-ups
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.
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. 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.
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.
“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.
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