Three Munster players to start Romania World Cup clash

Keith Earls tied Ireland’s World Cup try-scoring record with a brace in 44-10 victory over Romania to take Joe Schmidt’s men top of Pool D, before suffering a concussion scare.

Darren Cave put in another good performance at centre but his lack of versatility will count against him as Fitzgerald and Zebo (assuming Earls, R. Kearney and Bowe are starters) look to be the frontrunners for that final spot, meaning there’s no space for Dave Kearney or Paddy Jackson.

Eoin Reddan and Madigan are the reserve half backs, leaving one place to fill on the bench as back line cover.

Six Nations champions Ireland opened their World Cup campaign with a slick 50-7 win over Canada and, with tougher games against Italy and France to come, opted to rest first-choice players including Johnny Sexton and Peter O’Mahony, while Paul O’Connell, Sean O’Brien and Conor Murray are on the bench.

The physical effort required against both Romania and Italy won’t be insignificant though and this is where the backroom team will really earn their corn – Jason Cowman may not be a household name, but as the squad’s strength and conditioning coach he is every bit as important to the project as the players.

Loosehead prop Cian Healy, a replacement against Canada last Saturday, will start a test for the first time since surgery on a prolapsed disc in his neck last May.

Romania: C Fercu; A Apostol, P Kinikinilau, C Gal, I Botezatu; M Wirinji, V Calafeteanu; A Ursache, A Radoi, P Ion, V Poparlan, O Tonita, V Ursache, M Macovei (capt) D Carpo.

Madigan struck the post with his conversion from out wide but the Irish were in control and the only surprise was they were unable to extend their 15-point advantage before half-time.

“I don’t think you are ever totally satisfied”, Schmidt said.

“And I guess the other part is the breakdown”.

New Zealand’s clash with Argentina set an 89,019 record on the tournament’s opening weekend, and Wembley came up trumps once more on the stats front.

“Watching Romania put that pressure through France made the breakdown a real battle for survival”. “But if the game’s going in a direction where we feel Ian would benefit from 15 minutes at No9, then that’s possible”.

“This was the night to give Joe a headache, for a lot of us”, said Henry. So we’ve taken no risk. The lineout is certainly an area we need to improve on.

There has only been one earth-shattering shock in this World Cup so far*.

Zebo, operating at full-back, grabbed his chance with an eye-catching display and was denied a brilliant 14th-minute try for a foot in touch after his own chip and chase.

“We have to show people that we can perform at this level”. Before we didn’t have that opportunity. The order of games couldn’t have been kinder to Ireland and the matches against Canada and Romania are, essentially, little more than dress-rehearsals with the Italian matinee followed by the real show, France, this day fortnight.