Ireland 45 Romania 17
Ireland got their World Cup campaign off to a winning start in Gosford this morning but were made work hard by some dogged Romanian opposition and will face an anxious wait after Keith Wood limped off 14 minutes from time.
The win takes Ireland ahead of Australia at the top of Pool A courtesy of the bonus point secured for scoring four or more tries - Ireland ran in five.
Shane Horgan capped his return from injury with a Ireland's first try of the tournament while scores from Wood, Denis Hickie (two) and flanker Victor Costello wrapped up the victory.
Despite the margin of victory, this was a hard-fought win for Eddie O'Sullivan's side and though they were rarely firing on full cylinders, they were always able to keep Romania at arms length after the boot of David Humpheys opened a nine point lead early in the first half.
Humphreys justified O'Sullivan's decision to name him at stand-off in preference to Ronan O'Gara in a blustery Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.
Humphreys failed just once with the boot and finished with 18 points, edging Ireland into a 9-0 lead before Horgan, making only his fifth appearance in the last 20 internationals charged over after taking Kevin Maggs' try-scoring pass.
Wood raced through a huge hole to grab try number two four minutes before half-time.
Then Denis Hickie, making a record 41st appearance for an Irish winger, capped the occasion with a brace. Costello's effort split those two scores, the flanker almost splitting Romanian fly-half Ionut Tofan as he powered over straight from a scrum.
Ireland went into the game with O'Sullivan believing his third-ranked team have not been given the respect they deserve by the major southern hemisphere nations.
After watching last night's disappointing opening night tussle at Telstra Stadium, the coach would no doubt have implored his team to make the kind of statement which would force Pool A rivals Australia and Argentina to sit up and take notice.
Eventually it came, although not without a struggle. Having opted to try and blunt Romania's enthusiasm by making them play into the teeth of a gale blowing off nearby Brisbane Water, Ireland still found themselves in difficulty at times.
Flanker Ovidiu Tonita was a constant menace in defence and attack, and the plucky eastern Europeans were unfortunate not to have a first-half try to show for their efforts when a succession of forward drives were repelled by the Irish pack.
The period around the interval marked Romania's most productive spell and when Brezoianu profited from a kind bounce and hacked forward, only Humphreys' blatant shove prevented him from scoring a try, the penalty version of which was eventually awarded by match official Jonathan Kaplan following consultation with the video referee.
If Cristian Sauan had set the speedy Brezoianu away when he had the line at his mercy, Ireland might have been worried.
As it was, another mighty charge on their opponents' line only brought Romania a Ionut Tofan penalty. By the time Valentin Maftei sprinted clear to dive on Brezoianu's kick ahead, their chance of causing a shock had long since disappeared.
Afterwards, Wood played down his early exit. The Lions hooker told reporters: "I'm hoping it's nothing serious. It's hard to say at this stage but I don't think it's anything major."
Wood stressed the importance of the win, adding: "I think getting the win under our belts first up was important.
"Romania were played a strong game and made it quite difficult but we're happy with a reasonably good effort and a bonus point."
Wood admitted, however, that the side were a little rusty. "It's not nerves," he added. "They're to be expected but we don't believe for one second teams are going to sit back against us. They played very well - the best I have seen them play."
