In a curious way, this afternoon's academic World Cup qualifier against Romania will ask more of Ireland's self-motivational powers and professionalism than next week's Test against the Springboks. Getting geed up for that one will not be an issue.

The Lansdowne Road crowd are both a barometer of the problem and part of it. Next week, the old ground will be packed to the rafters and throbbing. This afternoon, it's liable to be at least half-empty. The problem is further accentuated by the nature of these highly dubious qualifying pools (Romania and Ireland's respective victories over Georgia effectively make today's game meaningless) and by Ireland actually having gone to the trouble of watching Romania on Wednesday.

Far better perhaps, for Messrs Gatland, Danaher and Lenihan to have censored Wednesday night's events and provided tightly-packaged highlights. Admittedly, this would have made it more akin to an ad break than a full-length feature, but at least it would have served up some kind of warning to the Irish players.

Instead, in the absence of any fear factor, they must seek inspiration from within, not from the other side of the pitch. Much like last week, it has to be done, and it has to be done professionally for 80 minutes.

Of course it doesn't follow that because Romania only had four points to spare over Georgia, Ireland should win by 66 or so today. The 14-point turnover resulting from Georgia's injury-time intercept try gave a misleading look to the scoreline, when something like 34-16 would have more accurately reflected the gulf between the sides - poorly as Romania played, in the first-half especially.

They'll be cuter and more streetwise, better organised defensively. They also have better backs, as evidenced by their haul of three tries from the four occasions they moved the ball wide against Georgia.

Aside from their impressive 21-year-old scrum-half Petre Mitu, compared to the Georgians their trio of French-based backs looked more like, well, backs.

They had that trademark Gallic swerve of the hips when transferring the ball from side to side, and even their Aurillac-based leftwinger instigated the first two tries with cross-kicks, a very French es Francais ploy, if something of a dying art.

Romania's coach Mircea Paraschiv maintains that a weight has been lifted from their shoulders with Wednesday's win, and that they can now play with more freedom. But all of this presumes that they will get the chance to, and here Romania might have a problem - getting their mits on the ball.

There was enough evidence on Wednesday to suggest that the Irish scrum might put them under some pressure, and as for the Romanian line-out, you'd see more co-ordination at schools' level. Hence, so bad did it become, that for much of the second-half they were reduced to flapping the ball back from the front of the line-out.

Admittedly, the Irish jumpers will have winced at the amount of times their Georgian counterparts had their legs whipped from under them in mid-air. The Romanians weren't as indiscriminate in their adherence to the ruck laws, but the penalty count was still 20 against them on Wednesday.

Given that this is a fairly disciplined Irish outfit, the penalty count could be quite lopsided again today and there could well be frustrating passages of play for Ireland to contend with, but the presence of a reportedly good up-and-coming New Zealand referee should help the flow.

And with an outing under their belts, Ireland should hit the ground running and have more of a flow to their game this afternoon. The bulk of this seriously talented pack have been together for a year and the vast bulk of them should provide something to get excited about come the World Cup finals themselves. They ought to be able to supply some first-rate set-piece possession and quicken up the ruck ball, while keeping the Romanian loose forwards and backs on the back foot for much of the encounter.

Behind them, Eric Elwood will surely come on from last week's outing, especially on the end of Ciaran Scally's lengthier service. He doesn't have the vocal presence or the accurate box-kicking of Conor McGuinness, but this is a big game for him as he could force his way into the South African Test.

Ditto Darragh O'Mahony and Pat Duignan. You'd fancy O'Mahony could make a mark this afternoon and Duignan probably needs to as well, just to stake a claim to his place in the side, although like last week, this afternoon may not provide real relevance to the challenge that will be presented by the South Africans. The dozen or so handling errors made last week, most of them actually made when Ireland went up a gear in the second-half and were trying to do more, need to be reduced - a point Gatland has been making almost mantra-like in his public utterances this week.

A quicker start then, quicker ruck ball and quicker ball through the backs' hands, all the while with the error count down, would constitute a good day at the office. After that, the scoreboard can take care of itself.

It's always a dangerous game anyway to talk of points totals. Presumably Romania are a good bet to get more than nil, and Ireland could play better than last week and come up well short of 70. But, in any case, Paddy Powers make Ireland 5/6 with a handicap of 38 points. Worth a wager.