Ireland subdue rugged Romania

Trimble claims a brace of tries

Ireland ended their November series with a compressive 43-12 victory over Romania at Lansdowne Road on Saturday but it wasn't quite the performance Irish fans had been hoping for.

It was sunny but cold in Dublin as the wind came down the field from the North Terrace, still desolate following the fire a while ago.

It was a strange match, possibly with more credit to the persistent Romanians than for the Irish who won well, but thanks only to their speed away from the pack.  The Irish pack was beaten.  Three times the Romanians were over the line but the television match official was unable to confirm a try and once teenager Catalin Fercu was tackled right at the cornerpost.

Romania, with "O'Neills" on their backs presumably because of a sponsorship and not covert Irish inclinations, played with the awkward wind and were leading until just after 20 minutes when Ireland got their first try.

Until then Ireland had been ponderous and their handling clumsy.  They had lost two line-outs on their own throw and were finding the bashing of the heavy Romanians troublesome.

The Oaks had the first chance to score as they bashed in phase after phase, getting closer to the Irish line till their scrum-half, the experienced Petre Mitu lobbed a kick over into the Irish in-goal.

They ended the half with a similar bit of mindlessness.  On half-time they attacked with many phases from a line-out till young fly-half Ionut Dimofte kicked the ball out for half-time.

At close quarters the Romanians were certainly the match of the Irish but it was a different story when there were chances to run with the ball.

As if a switch had been thrown, Ireland ran into the lead when they were trailing 6-3.  The best of the Irish runners were Geordan Murphy, the wings Shane Horgan and Tommy Bowe and the outside centre Andrew Trimble who had been so impressive against Australia the previous week.

The first try came when Murphy broke between the Romanian props in midfield and played to his right to Trimble who came racing through and on and over the line for a try, which captain David Humphreys converted.

Humphreys told the world how he wanted his side to play when twice he opted for scrums from penalties in midfield, and then he tapped and ran a penalty within his own half.

Penalties were a problem for the Oaks.  They conceded ten in the half to four by Ireland.  For the ninth big Alexandru Manta earned a yellow card at a tackle and went off to reappear for the start of the second half.  Things were better in the second half when the penalty count was 7-3 in favour of Romania!  But that was generally a much better half for the Oaks.

Ireland got a second try when Manta was resting.  They went through many phases until, as they went right, Neil Best burst through to score.

That made it 17-6 at half-time.  The Romanians were to come out to play into the wind.  They looked done.

Done they may have looked but their resolve was not.  They were better as the bog men battered again and again at the Irish in a half in which they had four five-metre scrums.

Romania had an early chance when a clearing kick by Humphreys was charged down but Murphy saved and then Ireland got a gift try.

Humphreys launched an up-and-under which Fercu dropped.  Ireland took the ball as the Romanians stood aside to avoid conceding a penalty, virtue which they may have regretted as Trimble scored his second try off an inside pass by Bowe.

Mitu kicked two penalties to make the score a respectable 24-12 but again Ireland got a present of a try as they played the blindside and, up against the touch-line, Johnny O'Connor ran past Ovidiu Tonitu who patted him on the back.  O'Connor scored with a gymnastic celebration.

It was after this that the Romanians attacked and attacked again near the cornerflag on the Irish right till they made a gross error -- passing to their backs.  From a five-metre scrum they ended with a line-out 15 metres from their line and Geordan Murphy was strong in Csaba Gal's tackle to score.  Humphreys converted from far out.  38-12.

Again the Oaks battered at the line, and again a mistake gave Ireland a try.

Denis Leamy won a fishy turn-over which became a scrum to Ireland which became a free kick.  Leamy took the tap and raced some 50 metres down the field.  The Irish went left and replacement fullback Girvan Dempsey surged over for the try.  Ronan O'Gara missed the conversion.

Ireland had one more chance to score a try but red-capped Fercu hauled Horgan in from behind and then won a turn-over to save for his side.

Romania ran once out of defence and hooker Marius Tincu had a long, strong run but it all fizzled out at the end.

Man of the Match:  For Romania it would have to be a forward and probably burly prop Petru Balan.  For Ireland it had to be a back and a choice of one of those outside backs -- Tommy Bowe, Andrew Trimble, Shane Horgan and our man-of-the-match Geordan Murphy.

Moment of the Match:  That high kick, chase, catch and dart by young Catalin Fercu that so nearly brought a try.

Villain of the Match:  Nobody -- all good, clean fun.

The scorers:

For Ireland:
Tries:  Trimble 2, N Best, O'Connor, Murphy, Dempsey
Pens:  Humphreys
Cons:  Humphreys 5

For Romania:
Pens:  Mitu 4

Yellow card(s):  Manta, 35 -- killing the ball

The teams:

Ireland:  15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Shane Horgan, 13 Andrew Trimble, 12 Gordon D'Arcy, 11 Tommy Bowe, 10 David Humphreys (c), 9 Kieran Campbell, 8 Denis Leamy, 7 Johnny O'Connor, 6 Neil Best, 5 Leo Cullen, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 Simon Best, 2 Shane Byrne, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements:  16 Jerry Flannery, 17 John Hayes, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Simon Easterby, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Ronan O'Gara, 22 Girvan Dempsey.

Romania:  15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Gabriel Brezoianu, 13 Ionut Tofan, 12 Valentin Maftei, 11 Ioan Teodorescu, 10 Ionut Dimofte, 9 Petre Mitu, 8 Ovidiu Tonita, 7 Alexandru Manta, 6 Florin Corodeanu, 5 Petre Cristian, 4 Sorin Socol (captain), 3 Petrisor Toderasc, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Petru Balan.
Replacements:  16 Cezar Popescu, 17 Marel Socaciu, 18 Costica Mersoiu, 19 Cosmin Ratiu, 20 Lucian Sirbu, 21 Csaba Gal, 22 Dan Vlad.

Referee:  Andrew Cole (Australia)
Touch judges:  Nigel Whitehouse (Wales), Peter Allen (Scotland)
Television match official:  Huw Watkins (Wales)