MATCH SUMMARY Ireland (17) 43 Try: Trimble (2), N Best, O'Connor, Murphy, Dempsey Cons: Humphreys (5) Pens: Humphreys Romania (6) 12 Pens: Mitu (4) All the Lansdowne Road action

Two Petre Mitu penalties helped Romania lead early on but tries from Ulster pair Andrew Trimble and Neil Best left Ireland 17-6 ahead at the break.

Trimble notched his second try of the day after the interval and while Mitu replied with two penalties, Johnny O'Connor's score made the game safe.

Geordan Murphy and replacement Girvan Dempsey added late tries for the Irish.

Despite Humphreys' successful third minute penalty, the Irish made a sluggish start and two penalties by Mitu put the Romanians 6-3 ahead by the 12th minute.

Playing against a near gale force breeze, the Irish were struggling to adapt to the conditions with numerous handling errors afflicting the home side's efforts.

However, a superb break by Geordan Murphy and perfectly-timed pass by the Leicester star enabled Ulster youngster Trimble to score his first international try in the 22nd minute.

Humphreys' added the extras to put the home side 10-6 ahead.

Neil Best, Ireland's best player in the opening half, then rounded off a period of Irish pressure three minutes before half-time when he broke through a couple of weak tackles to notch the home side's second try.

Shane Horgan attempts a break for Ireland

Humphreys, again, was successful with the conversion which extended the Irish advantage to 17-6.

The Irish made a sloppy start to the second half with Geordan Murphy having to make a brilliant intervention to prevent a Romanian try after Humphreys' attempted clearance had been charged down.

However, a mistake by Romanian full-back Catalin Fercu then gifted Ireland another touchdown with man-of-the-match Trimble the finisher after good work by Denis Leamy and Tommy Bowe.

Mitu's third successful penalty reduced Ireland's lead to 24-9 and the Romanian fly-half added another three points in the 54th minute to further reduce the Irish lead.

However, any hint of a Romanian comeback was ended when Johnny O'Connor broke through some sloppy tackling to notch his first international try in the 58th minute. Humphreys' conversion extended the Irish lead to 31-12.

Have Your Say on Scum V Chat about Ireland's victory

The Irish fly-half had to make a last-ditch tackle to prevent a Romanian try after full-back Fercu had produced a marvellous break.

The Romanians continued to press but were held up three times by the Irish despite breaching the home line.

Poor tackling at the other end of the field enabled Geordan Murphy to notch his 16th international try with 10 minutes remaining.

Replacement Girvan Dempsey rounded off the Irish win with a further late try.

Ireland: G Murphy; S Horgan, A Trimble, G D'Arcy, T Bowe; D Humphreys, capt, K Campbell; M Horan, S Byrne, S Best, D O'Callaghan, L Cullen, N Best, J O'Connor, D Leamy.
Replacements: J Flannery for Byrne 69 mins, J Hayes for Horan 80, M O'Driscoll for Callaghan 69, P Stringer for Campbell 70, R O'Gara for Humphreys 70, G Dempsey for Murphy 70.
Not used: S Easterby

Romania: C Fercu; G Brezoianu, I Tofan, V Maftei, I Teodorescu; I Dimofte, P Mitu; P Balan, M Tincu, P Toderasc, C Petre, S Socol, capt, F Corodeanu, A Manta, Ovidiu Tonita.
Replacements: M Socaciu for Toderasc 65, X Gal for Maftei 45, D Vlad for Dimofte 56, C Mersoiu for for Corodeanu 60, C Ratiu for Manta 71.
Not used: C Popescu, L Sirbu.
Sin Bin: Manta (34).

Att: 35,000

Referee: Andrew Cole (Australia)