Ireland v Romania, RWC Pool B. Stade De Bordeaux, 14:30 Saturday 9th September 2023. Virgin TV / ITV

I would disagree on the Aki point. He cemented his status as our 1st choice no.12 today. Must be picked now when fit.

Not so sure on that but great place to be in having Aki and Robbie vying for that spot. Position of real strength for us @ 12.

Henshaw needs to find fitness before there's any competition at 12. Right now, a fit Aki is critical to our WC campaign.

Would have zero issue with Robbie or Aki starting at 12. Robbie is a world class 12 period. Aki not essential if Henshaw available but it is fantastic to have both champing at the bit for 12.

Personally would still have Henshaw starting at 12 in a wcup qtr etc if fully match fit but it really isn't an issue either way in my eyes and a damn good place to be in @ 12.

I don't rate Loughman and Henderson, think they are liabilities. Henderson has dropped form and Loughman not at the races at this level.

Loughman has a great deal of credit in the bank with Munster fans from his performances in the latter stages of last year's URC.

There's no sugar-coating today though. That was bad. But at the same time, I'm certainly happy to call it an anomaly. Scrummaging was a mixed bag, but it was around the park where he had most of his hiccups. And that's odd, given how strong he is in the loose.

Heat, soap-ball, nerves, too keen to impress, who knows. But today didn't reflect him as a player.

Do I want Porter fit for 80 minutes against South Africa? Yes.

But I'd also be chill on Loughman. He'll reintroduce himself.

Yeah he was there at the back with O’Mahony looked fine.

Who kicked the ball for the Romanian try? The follow up was poor. Earls went on the outside and was blocked by their winger but the kicker never filled the gap, would be a lesson learned there to chase up kicks with more purpose I think.

I think it was Sexton, clearly didn’t fan wide enough and we had no fullback at that moment so lesson has to be learned.

Thank fook for that.

Imagine if you had nothing to worry about?!

Hell on earth I'd say.

Bundee has looked like he is back to his 2016 brilliant best. Fit, Fast and full of confidence. Just give him the ball.

It was a low percentage, unnecessary play. More often than not that ball ends up going into touch or a player collects and is tackled into touch.

I don't think the execution was poor but Romania dealt with it well. Decision was questionable at best. Earls was stuck on the outside and their defender did a good job of shepherding him to a place where he wasn't able to get close to the ball. Might have done better than throwing a leg out but I wouldn't blame him too much if at all.

Really was immaterial ultimately. Earls didn't have a great day but it's more because he just doesn't have the legs nor does he fit the Irish style relative to the other back three players. The number of touches that Hansen, Keenan and Lowe had was outrageous (86 between them). Earls just isn't that type of player. I don't think he's out there necessarily for his on pitch contributions anyway though and that's fine by me. If he is important behind the scenes, then he's making a solid contribution to any potential success.

30 seconds – Romania 10m. 5 man called. Good read by Romania. 2 dummys not bought. Ultimately a simple lift at 4 to steal. Poor call by Ireland

10:38 – Ireland 10m. 5 man called again. Good throw to tail. Dummy pod at 4 fools Romania allowing uncontested at tail. Potentially learned from the first call.

16:06 – Half way. 6 +1 called. Minor movement but a solid throw to 4/5 arcing over Romanian jumper that was well beaten into the air anyway. Good throw and good execution. Ryan catches at full tilt

19:06 – Ireland 22m. 5+1 called. Out jumped Romania with a throw to tail with POM the receiver coming in as lifter. Crooked throw by Herring. Hard to tell from angle but looked a tad harsh. Herring standing ~2m outside 22m line and Ryan catches it ~1m outside the 22m line and for me it clearly goes down the channel. Again, tough angle to fully gauge it.

43:24 – Romania 5m line. 6+1 called POM receiver. Simple throw to 5/6 channel. No contest. Caught, mauled.

57:04 – Ireland 10m line. Broadcast missed it but looked to be a 6+1. Kelleher throwing. Henderson takes seemingly uncontested. Strong maul gaining 10m before VDF breakaway.

60:45 – Romania 22m. 5+1 called. Throw to the 4/5 channel well read by Romania. Great throw and great jump negate the risk. Dummy maul set up for Kelleher on the peel for god inroads to the line.

73:19 – Romania 7m line. 6+1. Throw to Henderson. No Dummy jumps or movement. Romania get a hand on it to steal but they literally **** their jumper straight across to the point where he lands 2m behind the maul on the Irish side. Chalked down as a lost lineout but realistically on a more even game that is called every time. Ref giving them a sporting chance at this point.

74:04 – Romania 22m line. 7 full man lineout. Same call as previous straight to Henderson. Good throw good jump straight down to Murray Ireland score off first phase

77:58 – Romania 7m line. 6+1 called. Throw to 6 for Beirne. No contest from Romania. Overthrow by Kelleher. Poor overthrow it must be said.

79:10 – Half way. 6+1 called again. Henderson straight up at 4. Beats the Romanians into the air with an excellent jump and lift and the throw is much better.

So overall we have 11 Irish lineouts. 4 lost. 1 by blatant illegality. One by a mildly harsh crooked throw. One out jumped on a poor call. And one poor throw.

By no means a perfect showing. And definitely some stuff to work on. But it was extremely noticeable to me we had very little inventiveness regarding dummy jumpers and lifters. And not a huge amount of movement either. These were out cookie cutter lineout moves. I have no doubt we have more up our sleeve.

I do not believe our line out is a problem

I agree. Not worried about it when Ryan, POM and Beirne are in there.

Herring looks in good form. It was great to see Kelleher again. Hopefully Sheehan makes the bench v Tonga.

I reckon the injuries affecting Kelleher and Sheehan could be problematic. Sheehan needs to get minutes under his belt.

For me, Loughman needs another run out. He was poor and it was uncharacteristic imo. He's usually pretty good around the park. I'd prefer him to Kilcoyne.

Watched the game again and Aki must be wondering what levels he is going to have hit to get a WC Man of The Match award.

He put in some shift.

I’m sure it would give them some pleasure.