O’Sullivan is happy with solid start

Ireland 45 Romania 17

Nobody was foolish enough to proclaim the five-try, 28-point win as an Irish statement of intent for the remainder of the tournament, but for an opening game, it hit enough high notes for everyone to remain positive.

Eddie O’Sullivan had been talking-up Romania all week long in the build-up to the game and to be fair to the coach, he was spot-on. The Eastern Europeans were competitive, hugely physical and showed a level of maturity in their game that few could have expected beforehand.