Ireland determined to confirm status

Having watched Pool A rivals Australia and Argentina make an unconvincing start to their World Cup in Sydney last night, Ireland stepped into the fray looking to confirm their status as the third best team on the planet.

Though coach Eddie O’Sullivan has played down his side’s chances of finishing top of the group, there was nothing on show at the Telstra Stadium to unduly worry an Irish side on top of their game.

On paper, today’s clash with Romania should present no more than a tough training ground workout but O’Sullivan still named his strongest available XV with David Humphreys winning the fly-half battle with Ronan O’Gara.

Humphreys went into the game needing one penalty to become the 14th player in history to hit the century but the large Irish-supporting contingent in a capacity 20,000 crowd were hoping for much more than that.