Captain Dion O'Cuinneagain scored his first international try and fullback Conor O'Shea touched down twice to guide Ireland to a 44-14 victory over Romania in their World Cup Group E match at half-empty Lansdowne Road on Friday night.
The win sealed Ireland second place in Group E behind unbeaten Australia and earned them a quarter-final play-off in Lens, France, on Wednesday.
The Irish will play either Samoa, Argentina or Canada depending on the result of Saturday's Japan-Argentina match.
Romania were eliminated after one win and two losses in the group stage.
Flanker Andy Ward and scrum-half Tom Tierney also scored tries for Ireland, while fly-half Eric Elwood kicked five conversions and two penalties for a personal tally of 16 points -- and a flawless night of goal-kicking. Replacement Brian O'Driscoll landed a late drop goal.
Ireland responded well to the do-or-die situation. "We knew that if we didn't win we would have been packing our bags -- and that would have been unthinkable," said O'Shea. "It was solid and we got our confidence back after the loss to Australia, but it wasn't vintage stuff by any means. "We are happy, but we know there is still a lot of work to do."
Ireland lost prop Peter Clohessy (back) and wing Justin Bishop (hamstring) a couple of hours before kickoff but their side was still strong enough to hold off a committed Romanian combination who were beaten but far from disgraced. "I'm proud of my players," said Romanian technical director John Phillips. "We went out and competed -- we gave it a go." South African-born back-rower O'Cuinneagain, a late inclusion in a half-strength Ireland team, scored his side's first try after just six minutes -- finishing off a superb 50-metre passing movement. Elwood converted to make it 7-0.
Elwood added a 13th-minute penalty and when Ward burst through some feeble defence two minutes later -- and his try was converted by Elwood -- it was 17-0 and the Irish were in control.
Romanian scrum-half Petre Mitu landed penalties in the 18th and 25th minutes before O'Shea grabbed the third Irish try in the 33rd minute after the ball had been recycled intelligently.
Elwood again converted and then landed an injury-time penalty to make it 27-6 at the break.
O'Shea's second try came five minutes into the second half when he collected a fine pass from Elwood to go over -- and the fly-half again converted.
When Romania lost inspirational skipper Tudor Constantin to injury their hopes had all but evaporated.
Mitu landed a third penalty in the 57th minute when it might have been smarter to take a tap and the Irish immediately went up to the other end for Tierney to scamper over the line. Elwood again converted.
The job done, Ireland coach Warren Gatland was able to pull off O'Shea and Tierney with 20 minutes still remaining. Elwood, too, left the field early with a cut head -- a sad finish after such an influential performance.
The Romanians got a consolation try with five minutes left when wing Cristian Sauan scampered over in the right corner after his teammates used quick hands after a five-metre scrum win.
Ireland still had the last word, however, with O'Driscoll's injury-time drop goal.
The Teams:
Ireland: 1 Paul Wallace, 2 Ross Nesdale, 3 Justin Fitzpatrick, 4 Paddy Johns, 5 Malcolm O'Kelly, 6 Kieron Dawson, 7 Andy Ward, 8 Dion O'Cuinneagain (c), 9 Tom Tierney, 10 Eric Elwood, 11 Matt Mostyn, 12 Jonathan Bell, 13 Mike Mullins, 14 Jimmy Topping, 15 Conor O'Shea
Reserves: Jeremy Davidson, Gordon D'Arcy, Angus McKeen, Brian O'Meara, Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Wood, Alan Quinlan
Romania: 1 Razvan Mavrodin, 2 Petre Balan, 3 Constantin Stan, 4 Tiberiu Brinza, 5 Tudor Constantin (c), 6 Alin Petrache, 7 Erdinci Septar, 8 Catalin Draguceanu, 9 Petre Mitu, 10 Roland Vusec, 11 Cristian Sauan, 12 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Romeo Gontineac, 14 Gheorghe Solomie, 15 Mihai Vioreanu
Reserves: Marius Iacob, Daniel Chiriac, Florin Corodeanu, Nicolae Dragos Dima, Radu Fugigi, Laurentiu Rotaru, Ionut Tofan
Attendance: 33000
Referee: Campsall b
Points Scorers:
Ireland
Tries: O'Cuinneagain D. 1, O'Shea C.M.P. 2, Tierney T. 1, Ward A.J. 1
Conv: Elwood E.P. 5
Pen K.: Elwood E.P. 2
Drop G.: O'Driscoll B. 1
Romania
Tries: Sauan D.C. 1
Pen K.: Mitu P. 3
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