Preview: Ireland vs Romania
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Preview: Ireland vs Romania
Ireland have made 12 changes to the side that comprehensively beat Canada in their Pool D opener. Joe Schmidt has named an experienced team and will be happy to start Cian Healy for the first time in 6 months at loosehead as he looks to get over his injury woes. 4 players will make their World Cup debuts as Devin Toner, Richardt Strauss, Jordi Murphy and Darren Cave start against the Romanians.
Romania will look to build on their performance against France where they held their own for some stages of the match but les Blues quality stood out in the end.
This will be 2nd and last game held at Wembley in the Rugby World Cup with over 70,000 fans expected to be at the game.
The pair have met 8 times, with Ireland coming out on top on all 8 occasions
Last 5 meetings:
Fri 15 Oct 1999 Ireland 44 - 14 Romania
Sat 2 Jun 2001 Romania 3 - 37 Ireland
Sat 7 Sep 2002 Ireland 39 - 8 Romania
Sat 11 Oct 2003 Ireland 45 - 17 Romania
Sat 26 Nov 2005 Ireland 43 - 12 Romania
Key man: Jamie Heaslip. The Leinster man will captain the side and is one of 3 players that remain in the starting XV that beat Canada. He is one of the more experienced players in this side which already has a bundle of experience. If Ireland decide to keep it in the forwards, expect a few tries from the No. 8.
One to watch: Romania's pack. They looked dangerous against France with the driving maul and it will be interesting to see how they fair against an experienced Irish side.
BOD's Prediction: Ireland. Joe Schmidt will have the boys in green up for this and will be way too strong for a Romania side that played last on Wednesday.
