So begins the long winding road to Oz. In readiness for the World Cup qualifiers, away to Russia in two weeks' time and at home to Georgia the following week, Romania couldn't be better opposition, and the hope for Eddie O'Sullivan and the Irish team must be that today's visitors to Thomond Park will be no pushovers. Gerry Thornley reports

Certainly, it shouldn't be anything like England's 134-0 rout of the Romanians in Twickenham last November. That served no one any good, not even England. But these Romanians are an altogether more unified and better organised team than that hopelessly outclassed bunch proved.

All of the Romanian squad are full-time and are based overseas. All bar two of the starting XV play in France, the exception being the wingers Cristian Sauan and Mihai Vioreanu, who play with Rovigo in Italy and DLSP here, and five of them play in the first division. They've also had a week in camp in France under their French coach Bernard Charryere, who guided the French under-19s to their World Cup triumph at home, so clearly they're no mugs.

Since that nadir in their proud rugby history, Romania have bounced back with five straight wins in last season's division two of the Six Nations, beating Spain, Portugal, Holland, Russia and Georgia. As a yardstick to Ireland's forthcoming qualifiers, Romania beat Russia in Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, where Ireland must travel, by 27-22, and then overcame the Georgians in Tbilisi by 33-21.

Romania have World Cup qualifiers against Italy and on September 28th and Spain on October 5th, so this fixture is more than a chance for redemption for that Twickenham mauling, when despite missing 26 tackles, they still managed to make 101 tackles in what was 80 minutes-plus of unremitting defence.

"We like to believe that we're better," says the DLSP man Vioreanu. "There's been a big change in spirit and organisation. We have a new coach. Everything is changed. Some new players have been brought in and some of the older players have come back."

Only four of the team which started against Ireland in Bucharest over 15 months ago start today, and just as pertinently only six of the side thumped by England start. Vioreanu, Sauan and the captain Romeo Gontineac, who all played against Ireland in the 1999 World Cup, have since returned to the back line having missed the Bucharest game and the Twickenham encounter.

And it will be remembered how their talented backs gave Ireland quite a few problems in a qualifier the preceding autumn when Ireland outscored them by only seven tries to five at Lansdowne Road.

For this game Vioreanu implies Romania are not deluding themselves. "We don't have targets to beat Ireland. This match is an opportunity to get our own game organised before we play Italy and Spain. We know that Ireland play at a much higher level so we are setting ourselves realistic targets."

Nevertheless O'Sullivan expects Romania to be "very well organised and very well motivated, and I believe they'll give a very good account of themselves on Saturday".

O'Sullivan admits with the qualifiers in mind Romania will "be a good marker for us. I think they'll be an aggressive side, they'll be very fired up and they're always a big physical team anyway. So I think it will be a good game for us in that respect."

The task this week has been to get the balance right between well organised, highly motivated and "having fuel in the tank", says O'Sullivan, who is still hopeful of "a big performance".

Ring rustiness is bound to affect both teams for such an early seasonal Test opener though Ireland must have a slight edge in this regard as well. Not alone have they effectively had a month in camp together, the players have at least had one run-out each as well.

Of course, a dreadful pall will have hung over the Irish camp since Wednesday morning with the tragic news of Gordon Wood's death, thus resulting in the withdrawal from the team of his brother Keith. It cannot have been easy preparing for this game but come kick-off the team will set out to do a professional job.

The onus will be on Ireland to get the crowd into the match. But judging by the way Brian O'Driscoll and Denis Hickie, to name two, kick-started their seasons last week, that ought to happen. After three defeats in a row in which a normally prolific and potent Irish team have managed to score a mere two tries - albeit against comparably mightier opposition - it will be good for them to start spreading their wings again.

The Australian Rugby Union have confirmed the first Test of Ireland's three-leg tour next summer will be against Australia and will take place in Brisbane on June 7th. The other games are against Samoa and Tonga.

Ireland v Romania, Thomond Park, Saturday, 1.30 (Net 2)

IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster/Terenure); J Kelly (Munster/Cork Constitution), B O'Driscoll (Leinster/Blackrock), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster/St Mary's); R O'Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Munster/Shannon); R Corrigan (Leinster/Greystones), S Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock), J Hayes (Munster/Shannon), G Longwell (Ulster/Ballymena), M O'Kelly (Leinster/St Mary's), S Easterby (Llanelli), A Foley (Munster/Shannon), K Gleeson (Leinster/St Mary's).

Replacements: P Shields (Ulster/Belfast Harlequins), P Wallace (Leinster/Blackrock), L Cullen (Leinster/Blackrock), V Costello (Leinster/St Mary's), G Easterby (Llanelli), D Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon), R Henderson (Munster/Young Munster)

ROMANIA: G Brezoianu (Begles/Bordeaux, Fra); C Sauan (Rovigo, It), V Matei (Pau, Fra), R Gontineac (Aurellac, Fra) capt, M Vioreanu (DLSP); I Tofan (Racing Club, Fra), L Sirbu (Racing Club, Fra); M Dumitru (Aurellac, Fra), R Mavrodin (Tarbes, Fra), M Tincu (Pau, Fra), M Dragomir (Dijon, Fra), C Petre (Racing Club, Fra), F Corodeanu (Grenoble, Fra), A Petrache (Toulon, Fra), A Manta (Begles/Bordeaux, Fra).

Replacements: P Toderasc (Farul Constanta), D Tudosa (Racing Club, Fra), A Petrichel (Perpignan, Fra), G Chiriac (Farul Constanta), C Podea (Clauje), R Vusec (Toures, Fra), M Picoiu (La Vlanette, Fra).

Referee: G Di Stanis (Italy).

Previous meetings: 2/6/01 - Romania 3, Ireland 37; 15/10/99 - Ireland 44, Romania 14; 21/11/98 - Ireland 53, Romania 35; 13/11/93 - Ireland 25, Romania 3; 1/11/86 - Ireland 60, Romania 0.

Odds (Paddy Powers): Handicap betting (= Romania +46 pts) 10/11 Ireland, 16/1 Draw, 10/11 Romania.