Damned if they do, and damned if they don't, Ireland find themselves in a classic no-win situation. Run up half a century and most people will shrug their shoulders, maintaining that it's been a damaging autumn anyway. Survive a long, hard, early-afternoon slog and the verdict will be even more damning.

Though the match is technically a sell-out thanks to packaging with the All Blacks game, the unseemly kick-off time, the counter-attractions, the anti-climactic fallout from two chastening defeats, the weather and the selection have all combined to dampen enthusiasm. You can almost reach out and bite it.

Ulster fans excepted, it's an unappealing trek for those with long drives. But had more young guns been given debuts - the likes of Robert Kearney, Jamie Heaslip and replacement hooker Jerry Flannery spring to mind - or one or all of the causes célèbres been called in from the wilderness, it would surely have galvanised interest.

In light of the Japanese tour, and bearing in mind the Six Nations is followed by a summer tour to Australia and New Zealand, one wonders when the next opportunity will present itself.

If the previous two games had gone better, Eddie O'Sullivan might have felt more latitude to experiment, which would have eased the pressure on himself. Instead, that pressure has been transferred to a team featuring nine players starting for the third Saturday running.

This is a team picked to win, first and foremost, and the new "ball-in-hand" philosophy may have to be tempered, given the weather and the need to draw lines in the sand against the heavyweight Romanian pack.

"We have to defend well; they'll hold on to the football, and we'll have to be quite physical in contact to contain them," said O'Sullivan yesterday. "I think we have to be more accurate with the football than we have, and it'll be a case of us having to hold onto it as well, and conditions are going to be testing."

It's difficult to obtain a handle on visitors such as the Romanians, who like all lower-tier teams, play relatively seldom and fluctuate in form according to player availability. Beaten 66-7 by Wales a year ago, since then Romania lost 23-16 to Japan, 28-22 to the USA and 39-19 to Scotland in Bucharest. However, seven of their frontline, French-based players were missing from those games.

Back to nearer full strength last week, their pack muscled over for two second-half tries and a last-ditch 22-20 win at home to Canada.

The Oaks have six players from French first-division clubs, all forwards. Hence O'Sullivan's contention they like to play "ball-in-hand, close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat stuff and it's certainly the weather for it as well".

Indeed, it's mild compared to Bucharest last week.

The earlier wake-up call and pasta for breakfast is one hurdle, another is the players' mindset.

"It's certainly a different challenge," admitted Shane Horgan, one of only three Irish players who started in the World Cup opener between the sides in Gosford. "But because of the last two weeks and the way they've gone for us, that challenge is nonetheless a significant one and it's one we have to rise to."

In Petru Balan Romania have one of the best scrummaging and ball-carrying props around, and as he packs down beside Marius Tincu and Pepe Toderasc, Simon Best and co will certainly be exposed to a proper test in every sense of the word. If Marcus Horan can reproduce the heights of last week, it will be one of the few shafts of light from this three weeks, while it should be a revealing insight into Neil Best's potential at this level and, to a degree, Jerry Flannery's.

Balan and his former Biarritz team-mate, the rangy Perpignan number eight Ovidiu Tonita, will be primary ball-carriers for Romania, while it's also interesting to see the 28-year-old scrumhalf Petre Mitu - a richly impressive performer on two occasions at Lansdowne Road in the late 1990s - has been recalled after two years' absence.

While their traditionally French-influenced back lines usually possess a certain style, they're unlikely to scale the heights of the World Cup qualifier here seven years ago, when eventually outscored by seven tries to five.

Ireland's seven previous victories have come at an average of 43-11, and the bookies make them 33-point favourites. Given the weather and recent dents to Irish confidence, that may be a tad too high.

O'Sullivan has also forecast "a game of two halves", with the wind blowing from the empty Havelock end toward the Lansdowne Road end. Ultimately though, Ireland should become progressively stronger, especially when the benches come in to play.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS: (2003) Ireland 45 Romania 17 (Gosford, Australia RWC); (2002) Ireland 39 Romania 8 (Thomond Park); (2001) Romania 3 Ireland 37; (1999) Ireland 44 Romania 14 (Lansdowne Road,RWC); (1998) Ireland 53 Romania 35; (1993) Ireland 25 Romania 3; (1986) Ireland 60 Romania 0.

BETTING (Paddy Powers): Romania +33pts - Ireland 10/11, 25/1 Draw, Romania 10/11.

FORECAST: Ireland by 25-30.