RWC 2023 Ireland v Romania Buildup - Sat 09th Sep 14:30 Bordeaux

If Ireland go full-strength I would expect about 6 tries in the first half, and about 6 substitutions at half-time.

In that case, if anyone has a niggle they would likely be dropped for the next match?

Just seems risky coming into the SA or Scotland matches.

We can batter Romania with whatever team we put out. It's the Tonga game we need to be at full strength for to amass a healthy points difference and if we didn't get a BP win it would be a disaster. We need to play our 1st team 3 games in a row to get out of the pool and with the recovery period from the 2 week break after the South Africa game we should be ok. If we stutter against Tonga with our 2nd string it could come back to bite us and wouldn't be great for our confidence heading into the SA and Scotland games.

All members of the squad will play an important role, along with a few replacements joining due to injuries. The idea of a “first XV” and “holding tackle bags” is so outdated… grow up

I think it's going to be pretty much full strength the whole way through. I'm in agreement that we needed to go strong for Romania just for continuity and minutes in legs purposes.

Barring this game, there is not a whole lot of scope to be resting players anyway so we were always going to be asking our front-liners to go back to back the whole way through.

I thought Paul O'Connell said in the presser the other day that Sheahan wasn't quite ready, I think sexton starts this game and the next and gets a good 70 mins into him for this game. I think Farrell has a thing for McCarthy, said before that he might be a bolter as a starter and not just against Romania.

12:30, not sure it's live, murray kinsellas twitter feed is the one to watch for the team announcement

Crowley! Delighted for him.

The beirne for vdf is the only surprising one to me

This is certainly the most likely scenario for sure. And one I'm in favour of due to it being tried and tested in some of our biggest wins in recent years.

But Farrell is clearly looking at viable ways of getting 3 locks on the pitch at the same time. And I don't think it's to counteract Romanias formidable pack.

I do think our game how we've played it is more than enough to beat South Africa, and I think calls to put out the biggest beefiest pack from certain quarters has been overstated.

But that's not to say that Beirne at 6 would be a very good option if Joe McCarthy proves he's up to it.

I'd hold back on the belief that this is first choice or an indication that some will start every game.

There's a few obvious changes that will happen both in the team and the 23. I'm not sure if they're looking to hold a couple of first team guys back for the Tonga match or if some are carrying minor knocks but I'd fully expect guys like VDF and Hansen now to start against Tonga along with guys from the first choice bench like Bealham, Kilcoyne, Henderson etc.

I think this is to get a run out for the bulk of the first team and some minutes into their lungs and then a number of them will rest/bench for Tonga to fully focus on the SA game.

SA have Romania before us so they will almost certainly play a near full second string side for that game and be nicely rested for our game. I don't see us going full strength (or close to) against Tonga on the same basis. Tonga are a tougher proposition but they have been, by and large, a massive let down given the buzz around their initial wider squad selection. I might be wrong but I think the only team that Tonga have beaten in the last 2-3 years is Canada. They're closer to the likes of Romania than they are to Georgia.

Fitness pending, for the Tonga game, I'd expect something along the lines of: JOB, Hansen, Henshaw, McCloskey, Hansen, Byrne, Casey, Conan, VDF, Baird, Henderson, McCarthy, Bealham, Kelleher, Kilcoyne. Subs: Herring/Sheehan, Porter, Furlong, Beirne, POM, Murray, Crowley, Ringrose.