The bookmakers have Ireland at extremely short odds here and a mammoth head start has been given to Romania with the handicap pushing closer to the 70-point mark with each passing day.
Ireland v Romania
Saturday 9 September
Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux
Ireland 1/150 | Draw 18/1 | Romania 18/1
The men from the ‘Emerald Aisle’ will be looking to rack up as many points as possible here to give themselves a solid points differential after the opening round. They are in a tough old group with South Africa and Scotland their stiffest competition to advance to the next round. As such, points differential could prove vitality important in this pool.
Irish head coach Andy Farrell is likely to field a strong side but the bench may be packed with fringe players, who will likely be given a run early on in the second stanza. Johnny Sexton is now available having served his ban so he is likely to come into the run-on side in order to gain match sharpness. There’s also strong talk of Jameson Gibson-Park and Josh van der Vlier joining Sexton in the run-on side.
One has to worry for Romania with Ireland set to name a very strong run-on XV. The men from Eastern Europe endured a poor run during their warm-up fixtures as they suffered three heavy defeats going down 17-31 to the United States, 56-6 to Georgia and 57-7 to Romania.
While I don’t pretend to be an expert on Romanian rugby, it seems they have left some of their best players at home with Mihai Macovei, Marius Antonescu and Ionel Melinte missing out through injury, while Toulon’s Atila Septar, utility back Vladut Popa, and lock Andrei Mahu were all omitted from the squad.
I know it’s a massive full-time handicap but I’m backing Ireland to clear it. I’ll also be having a go at them clearing the half-time handicap and for the first try scorer to be scrum-half Jameson-Park.
Verdict: Ireland (-61.5) 17/20
