Eddie O'Sullivan has warned his players to expect an different Romanian team from the one hammered by England last season.
The Eastern Europeans were ruthlessly beaten at Twickenham last November when the English clocked up their record Test victory of 134 points without reply.
But the Ireland coach says it has been all change since then with a new coach in Frenchman Bernard Charreyre and a new attitude for the Irish to deal with at Thomond Park tomorrow afternoon.
"They've certainly turned the corner since their poor performance in England," O'Sullivan said. "That was probably a low point for them.
"They've appointed a new coach who was highly respected as the French Under-19 coach who won the World Cup for France and they have quite a few of their players playing in France which will help them.
"They've been at a training camp in France and they've won their last five games. I would say they are definitely a team on the rise".
Ireland, who will be without skipper Keith Wood following the death of his brother yesterday morning, are playing away from Lansdowne Road as the IRFU switches the action to the famous Thomond Park venue, scene of Munster's famous victory over the All Blacks in 1978.
O'Sullivan said: "It's a great venue, there's no doubt about that. It's always been a venue that people have enjoyed playing in.
"Ironically, the last time there was an international played at Thomond Park was the World Cup game between Australia and the US and I happened to be involved in that [as technical director of USA Rugby] and the American players were amazed at the level of support and backing they got from the crowd.
"The Limerick crowd will want a good game and they'll certainly be happy to cheer on the underdogs if they play well enough. So we're going to have go out there and perform and earn the support of the crowd. I think that's only fair".