Tadhg Beirne: Final try showed our mentality

Ireland ran in 12 tries in their World Cup record haul against Romania in Bordeaux but for both Caelan Doris and Tadhg Beirne, it was the 12th one which best epitomised their approach on the day and pleased them most.

Especially Beirne, who got on the end of a move which started with Hugo Keenan scuttling back towards his own line to collect a long Romanian punt with the clock in the red.

The Irish backs decided they were having too much fun to leather the ball into the stand and set about escaping their own 22, Mack Hansen wriggling away from tacklers and searching for a gap.

The crucial moment in the move arrived when Jack Crowley dinked a kick over the defensive line, the relentlessly effective Bundee Aki winning the race to the bouncing ball. A couple of offloads later and Beirne was running away and free, to dot down for his second try of the afternoon. He, Sexton, O'Mahony and Aki all ended up with a brace of tries as Ireland filled their boots.

"I think at half-time, we felt like we had a lot more in us," Beirne told RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran afterwards.

"I think it showed our mentality at the end, where we were camped on our line but we wanted to keep the ball alive and ended up going the other end of the pitch to get another try. So, we're very pleased with that.

"We wanted to lay down a marker and first and foremost get the win. And then obviously we wanted to score as many tries as we possibly could.

"For the lads who hadn't had a World Cup game, it's great for them to get that ticked off as well. We've started well and we just need to keep that up."

Beirne's backrow partner Doris was one of those making his World Cup debut, the Ballina-born number eight only getting his first Ireland start in the 2020 Six Nations.