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Ireland launch their Rugby World Cup campaign against Pool B minnows Romania in Bordeaux.<\/p>\n
Johnny Sexton will captain the world\u2019s top-ranked nation on his return from suspension, with head coach Andy Farrell having named the majority of his star names.<\/p>\n
Here, the PA news agency picks out some of the main talking points ahead of Saturday\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n
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Sexton\u2019s final year in professional rugby has already been a wild rollercoaster ride. The fly-half sustained a cheekbone injury on New Year\u2019s Day but returned to lead Ireland to a Six Nations Grand Slam. The joy of achieving that feat on home soil for the first time was tempered by him suffering a season-ending groin injury, which denied him a Leinster farewell and was later compounded by a three-match ban for his \u201cconfrontational and aggressive\u201d behaviour towards referee Jaco Peyper. Sexton subsequently missed Ireland\u2019s World Cup warm-up fixtures. The 38-year-old is \u201cdelighted to be back\u201d and dreaming of going all the way.<\/p>\n
Ireland stretched their winning run to a national-record 13 matches with warm-up victories over Italy, England and Samoa last month. Nevertheless, Farrell\u2019s men were far from their free-flowing best in those outings and, according to the head coach, a little clunky. Players put up for media this week repeatedly spoke of the need for improvement as well as their hopes of laying down a marker. Ireland have won their last nine meetings with Romania. Those triumphs include World Cup victories in 1999, 2003 and 2015 \u2013 each by remarkably similar scorelines: 44-14, 45-17 and 44-10 respectively.<\/p>\n
Farrell\u2019s strong selection had one notable absentee: Mack Hansen. The Australia-born wing has been virtually ever-present for Ireland since his debut in last year\u2019s Six Nations. Yet, while the rest of Ireland\u2019s first-choice stars made the matchday squad, he was excluded, despite being fit. Farrell sparked speculation about the situation with cryptic comments in which he said some members of his squad did not handle off-field distractions very well when his team were based in Biarritz for their final warm-up game against Samoa in nearby Bayonne. Assistant coach Mike Catt dismissed suggestions Hansen had been dropped due to an internal disciplinary issue.<\/p>\n
Ireland and Romania are poised to run out in front of a capacity-crowd of approximately 42,000 in heat of around 35 degrees Celsius. The blistering conditions will no doubt have an impact on proceedings. Yet Ireland feel primed. Training camps in Portugal and Biarritz last month provided players with exposure to warm weather, while they have trained in similar temperatures this week at their base in Tours. Vice-captain James Ryan said: \u201cI like to think we\u2019ve gotten maybe more used to the heat. But you can\u2019t hide from it. It\u2019s probably going to be the hottest part of the day. But it can\u2019t be an excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Farrell\u2019s opening line-up suggests a statement win is very much in his mind. Rookie lock Joe McCarthy is an eye-catching exception. The towering 22-year-old is the least-experienced international in Ireland\u2019s 33-man group but has been handed a chance to impress with only his second Test start. His inclusion in the second row sees Tadhg Beirne drop back to blindside flanker and Peter O\u2019Mahony switch to openside, while world player of the year Josh Van Der Flier begins on the bench. Speaking of McCarthy, Farrell said: \u201cHe deserves it with the form that he\u2019s shown, not just in the games that he\u2019s played, but also in his preparation over the last 10, 11 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n