Preview: Ireland expects ahead of Sexton's last dance

As the Irish fans made their way through a sweltering Dublin Airport for the 1.55pm flight to Bordeaux on Friday, the reality of this long-haul World Cup set in.

If these same fans are lucky enough to be making the journey to Paris for the final, they'll be doing so four days short of winter, and this Indian summer will be long forgotten. So too would this opening game against Romania.

A shock defeat to hasn't been on the cards; Ireland have won each of their nine previous meetings by an average of 32 points. When Andy Farrell’s team selection for this afternoon’s opener at Stade de Bordeaux was announced on Thursday afternoon - showing close to a full-strength side - that unlikely shock became virtually impossible.

It’s a frustration for the neutral that the Rugby World Cup will still throw up games where the result is beyond doubt, although thankfully the number of those games has shrunk considerably compared to previous tournaments.

Ireland’s World Cup campaign will be judged further down the line, but getting off to a fast start can lay down a mark on the competition, particularly with their main pool rivals South Africa and Scotland meeting on Sunday.

The Six Nations champions come into the World Cup as the number one ranked side in the world, and although they did similar for the disappointing campaign of 2019, this time it looks to be on merit.

A second or third string Ireland would be expected to make light work of this Romania team, who struggled not only in qualification for the tournament, but also in their warm-up games against Italy, USA and Georgia. Instead, Farrell has shown The Oaks maximum respect with the squad he has picked.

Of the starting XV named for this afternoon’s game in Bordeaux, only Josh van der