The most important stuff unfolded outside the bounds of the 80 minutes, however.

Saturday’s showdown with South Africa will be a completely different challenge to what has gone before.

South Africa match Ireland's 12 tries in easy dismissal of Romania

Conor Murray paid tribute to his fellow centurion on setting the new Ireland test points record

Hooker Sheehan has not played since the first half of Ireland’s summer victory over England in Dublin

The games against Tonga and Romania were a means to an end, the value of which can only be truly evaluated after the South African game.

It’s a World Cup, but only because it’s marketed as such. For at least the first month of it, there is little or no substance or drama or intrigue.

An expansion from the current 20 countries for Australia 2027 or the United States four years later has been mooted in some quarters.

The Munster scrum half hailed the new Irish points record holder  

'To us, as a leader, as a player, Johnny's a lot more than a points-scoring machine - it's how he prepares his team and gets them up for every single game

The Examiner Sport columnist gives his immediate reaction to the victory in Nantes.

Ireland tuned up for their heavyweight Pool B clash with South Africa next week with an emphatic World Cup victory over Tonga

The Ireland 10 has broken Ronan O'Gara's long-standing Irish points record of 1,083. 

The Munster winger says that Erasmus would be an 'amazing' choice to take on the role of IRFU High Performance Director.

Ludvig Aberg's meteoric rise shows no signs of slowing down after the Ryder Cup rookie cruised into a two-shot lead

The Irish fanbase gather in their thousands before the pool clash

Warren Gatland’s much-changed team struggled throughout for control and fluency in the Pool C contest, the highlight of which was Portugal’s attacking flair.

Samoa opened their account at the Rugby World Cup  at Stade de Bordeaux.

From an RTÉ canteen-heavy guestlist to how viewers reacted to their new host, here are a few things we took away from Patrick Kielty's first night in Studio 4 — and you can share your thoughts below too