We probably should have seen it coming. Ireland approach a game professionally regardless of the opposition? This was merely Romania after all, a Romanian side that Ireland had seen play dreadfully three nights before, whereas South Africa loomed next Saturday. And, most of all, this is the Irish psyche we're talking about.

Upon his arrival for the second-half, Kevin Maggs detected a lack of talking amongst his teammates. Indeed, close-ups of the Irish players behind the goal-line as Petre Mitu lined up his five conversion attempts indicated a distinct lack of vocal post-mortems into the tries that had just been coughed up. And boyo, were they spewed up.

Three of the Romanian quintet were the product of shoddy handling, with Pat Duignan and Conor O'Shea unable to hold passes from Eric Elwood and Kevin Maggs which went to ground, while Jonathan Bell could only locate Radu Fugigi with a pass that had intercept written all over it.

Your heart went out to Duignan - (probably the biggest casualty of the day) for those on his inside did him few favours. By the time Ciaran Scally, Elwood and Bell had finished with the ball, he rarely saw any sight of it. And when he did, courtesy of two skip passes from Elwood, he was obliged to grope for them on the deck like a drunk in an alleyway. He deserved better.

Hence, the promise of his potent running against Georgia remained unfulfilled. Meantime, sod's law decreed that the first spillage led to Mihai Vioreanu's Romanian opener from the ensuing footrush, and one of two missed one-on-one tackles led to the stylish Romeo Gontineac launching a 70 metre back-line move which culminated in Gheorghe Solomie scoring in the corner.

There would have been another for Solomie but for an adjudged forward pass as Romania were a constant threat going from right to left, and in the other direction too they easily outflanked Ireland's `four-up' defence.

A week before South Africa come in search of equalling the world record of 17 successive test wins, all of this would seem decidedly ominous. There's no doubt that a repeat of the missed tackles and midfield handling errors, along with the general lack of concentration and urgency, will lead to an embarrassing day at the office next Saturday.

Yet, conversely and perversely, this flawed display was probably, as Warren Gatland and Donal Lenihan intimated, no bad thing. Viewings of this video nasty will assuredly concentrate the minds.

Next week will revive memories of the battle of Pretoria. Both camps can talk it down all they like, but there'll be a whiff of cordite in the air.

For all its new-found professionalism and the increased skill levels, like any sport, rugby is as much mental as anything else. However, for all that, it was still deeply frustrating and disappointing that Ireland didn't play as professionally as they should have done against Romania (even if there is something faintly ridiculous about a win bonus scheme that has the same pay-out for beating the might of Georgia and Romania as it does for theoretically beating those Springbok softies).

The thing is, of course, that come kick-off time money doesn't matter. Hence, even when 19-3 up and cruising Ireland couldn't keep a vice-like grip on the game. Hence, when Romania came calling for try number five, Ireland looked bunched in a sad reworking of the bad old amateur days as Darragh O'Mahony needlessly came off his wing for Mitu, the brilliant 21-year-old Romanian scrum-half - in the high point of the day for pure skill and vision - to serve up Vioreanu's try on the proverbial plate.

It was probably as much mental as anything, as Ireland had already conceded four tries and were already in the showers. They certainly haven't been over-trained, confined as they are to one relatively short, intensive morning work-out these past couple of weeks.

The mistakes which led to other Romanian scores were also the product of the team's evolution. For a change there has undoubtedly been. Of the 26 balls he received on Saturday, Eric Elwood kicked only two of them (one more than last week). Indeed, a year ago Ireland might possibly have won this match by 30-odd to 10 or so by grounding the Romanian pack into the ground and playing more of a percentage game.

Something in between will surely be called for next Saturday, and might even have been more applicable early on last Saturday when Ireland ran ball from inside their own 22 rather than establish a platform.

As to whether Elwood can play this evolving Irish game, the jury is still out. Almost inevitably the handling was slicker when David Humphreys was introduced; trademark vision and handwork setting up tries for Andy Ward and Bell.

Scally took his try well, and has immense promise, but took too much out of the ball early on. His day will come, but probably not next Saturday. Kevin Maggs will assuredly come in for Duignan alongside Bell (who, despite his two tries, had a poor all-round game) while no less than Duignan, O'Mahony's defensive errors compounded the lack of ball which came his way. Future Irish fullback though he is, Girvan Dempsey has played a dozen flawless games for Leinster on the leftwing.

Most of the positives were up front. Victor Costello's work-rate and potent ball-carrying probably made him Ireland's best player, and Eric Miller's injury has the spin-off of bringing the classy Dion O'Cuinneagain into the equation. Significantly, it was he, not Ward, who provided the missing back-row continuity off Costello's charge which led to Ireland's best try by Bell after 52 minutes.

Jeremy Davidson's big impression highlighted his worth as a weapon on the bench, though here the loss of Paul Wallace and Miller diminishes Ireland's reserve options.

And nobody uses the bench better than the Springboks.

Scoring sequence: 15 mins: O'Shea try, Elwood con 7-0; 19 mins: penalty try, Elwood con 14-0; 23 mins: Mitu pen 14-3; 26 mins: Scally try 19-3; 36 mins: Vioreanu try 19-8; 40 mins: Solomie try, 19-13; 42 mins: Elwood pen 22-13; 44 mins: Fugigi try, Mitu con 22-20; 52 mins: Bell try, Elwood con 32-20; 58 mins: Bell try, Humphreys con 39-20; 64 mins: Mitu pen 39-23; 72 mins: Ward try, Humphreys con 4623; 76 mins: Brezoianu try, Mitu con 46-30; 79 mins: penalty try, Humphreys con 53-30; 84 mins: Vioreanu try, Mitu con 53-35.

Ireland: C O'Shea (London Irish); J Bishop (London Irish), J Bell (Dungannon), P Duignan (Galwegians), D O'Mahony (Bedford); E Elwood (Galwegians), C Scally (UCD); P Clohessy (Young Munster), A Clarke (Dungannon), P Wallace (Saracens), P Johns (Saracens, capt), M O'Kelly (London Irish), E Miller (Terenure College), V Costello (St Mary's College), A Ward (Ballynahinch). Replacements: K Wood (Harlequins) for Clarke, J Davidson (Castres) for Johns, D O'Cuinneagain (Sale) for Miller, K Maggs (Bath) for Duignan (all half-time), J Fitzpatrick (Dungannon) for Wallace (49 mins), D Humphreys (Dungannon) for Elwood (55 mins), C McGuinness (St Mary's College) for Scally (59 mins).

Romania: M Vioreanu (Timisoara University); R Fugigi (CSM Sibiu), G Brezoianu (Timisoara University), R Gontineac (Aurillac), G Solomie (Aurillac); R Vusec (Strasbourg), P Mitu (Steaua Bucharest); D Niculae (Aurillac), R Mavrodin (Steaua Bucharest), F Marioara (Dinamo Bucharest), M Dragomir (Steaua Bucharest), V Doja (Dinamo Bucharest), A Manta (Aurillac), C Draguceanu (Steaua Bucharest capt), A Girbu (Oyonnax). Replacements: E Septar (Farul Constanta) for Dragomir (40 mins), C Lupu (Dinamo Bucharest) for Solomie (43 mins), M Ciolacu (Farul Constanta) for Gontineac (62 mins), O Slusariuc (Dinamo Bucharest) for Girbu (64 mins), P Balan (Dinamo Bucharest) for Mavrodin (77 mins).

Referee: P Honiss (New Zealand).