Irish ease

Elwood kick 7 of 7 attempts at goal

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Friday October 15, 1999 07:12 PM

Ireland's Michael Mullins (center) dodges two Romanian defenders. AP

DUBLIN, Ireland (CNN/SI) -- Ireland finally sparkled in group play when it beat Romania at Lansdowne Road on Friday 44-14, thereby qualifying for a Second Round game in Lens, France against the team that has the best third-placed finish in pool play.

Following a gutsy performance against Australia and a win over the USA it was the worst performance by the Romanians at the World Cup.

Ireland's South African-born captain Dion O'Cuinneagain scored his first test try and fullback Conor O'Shea got two of Ireland's five tries while flyhalf Eric Elwood, in for rested David Humphreys, had a flawless night with the boot landing two penalties and five conversions for 16 points.

Australia won all three matches to lead Group E and automatically qualify for the quarterfinal in Cardiff.

Ireland's most likely playoff opponent is either Samoa or Argentina, and despite Friday's huge margin the Irish could not be completely confident facing either of them.

While O'Cuinnegain, playing his 16th test, was outstanding at No.8 and the backline fired in spurts, the Irish game was still punctuated by the basic errors which cost them any chance in a 23-3 loss to the Wallabies last week.

"We're not doing cartwheels or anything like that," said O'Shea. "We're happy with the performance but it wasn't vintage by any means and we've got a lot to work on."

Ireland started the match with 17 points in as many minutes after Romanian scrumhalf Petre Mitu missed a chance to kick his team into an early lead.

O'Cuinnegain, left out of Warren Gatland's original lineup named midweek but brought in for injured Eric Miller, got the scoring rolling by finishing off a good running move by the hosts.

From a lineout deep in Irish territory, Elwood split the defense and after strong runs by Kieron Dawson and James Topping, O'Cuinnegain loomed up for the try on seven minutes.

English referee Brian Campsall, calling the game to the tightest letter of the law, found plenty of reasons to penalize an undisciplined Romanian team and after a succession of infringements Elwood kicked a penalty for a 10-0 lead.

The second try followed on 16 minutes when Romania's forwards went missing in action at a ruck near their tryline. Irish flanker Andy Ward scooped up the ball and went straight through the middle for a simple score.

Mitu managed two penalties to cut the gap to 17-6 before Ireland got its third try through O'Shea.

Mike Mullins broke through two tackles and off-loaded to O'Shea as Campsall ignored a hint of forward pass.

Elwood stepped up for an easy penalty to end the half and the Irish went to the break with a comfortable 27-6 lead.

O'Shea scored soon after the resumption when Elwood floated him a perfect pass, which gave the fullback a clear run to the line.

Scrumhalf Tom Tierney, under fire for some inconsistent service so far in the tournament, got his first test try when he darted over through rapidly disappearing Romanian defense.

But five minutes before the final whistle there was one more question mark placed on Ireland's future in the tournament. Poor defense at the base of a maul near their line allowed Romanian winger Cristian Sauan over for an easy try.

"We gave it a go but it was always going to be a hard slog for us," said Romania's technical director John Phillips. "We set ourselves the job of winning a game here and we beat the United States so I'm very proud of our boys."

Ireland

Romania

 

Related information
Stories
Rugby World Cup: Ireland thumps U.S. 53-8 Lackluster Aussies beat plucky Irish World Cup witticisms
Stats
Ireland vs. Romania Match Summary
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.