Ireland's delighted head coach Joe Schmidt hailed his 'Dad's Army' for treating another record Wembley World Cup attendance to a bonus point win.

The 89,267 crowd saw full back Simon Zebo enjoy the game of his life while under-fire Tommy Bowe really answered his critics about performing at this level with two tries.

Fellow winger Keith Earls also bagged a pair to equal Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll's record of seven World Cup tries, and their were further scores for Kearney and back rower Chris Henry.

Schmidt fielded a virtual second string with an average age of well over 29. And he said: "That's 10 points in the bag after following our win over Canada and that's really important.

"There were a lot of positives. Zebo did really well, and our captain Jamie Heaslip led from the front.

"Keith Earls played really well, too, and although he is focusing on delivering for the team, any Irishman would like to be considered in the same company as Brian O'Driscoll."

Heaslip simply loved the Wembley experience. The gate was a couple of hundred up on the New Zealand v Argentina match and he purred, "It was unbelievable. The crowd was pretty overpowering. We tried to block it out but all that energy meant that when we were blowing heard they picked us up."

A late rally saw second rower Ovidui Tonita go over for Romania - and few at Wembley begrudged The Oaks that.

Most onlookers were surprised they were only 18-3 down at the  break.

Boy how they struggled, having had to make an amazing 41 tackles in the first five minutes alone!

By the time Earls had landed his second try to equal O'Driscoll's record the Irish back three had made more metres in attack (166) than the entire Romanian team (135).

And two of The Oaks' back rowers, Mihai Macovei and Viorel Lucaci, had launched themselves into the top 10 tacklers at the World Cup so far.

Zebo thought he had spectacularly set things rolling in the 14th minute with a daring solo run and little grubber that he collected and grounded only to discover he had put a foot into touch.

However, the damage truly began in the 19th minute with Bowe's first score following a wicked crossfield move.

Earls followed with his first five minutes later, scampering into the corner after Zebo's visionary movement had scuppered the Romanian defence.

Four minutes after half-time Earls was at it again after Eoin Reddan scooped up an awkward bouncing ball cleverly.

Bowe completed his double after 62 minutes, the bonus point secured following majestic midfield running to pull apart the now exhausted Romanians.

With Oaks centre Csaba Gal sin binned, replacement Rob Kearney and gallant back rower Chris Henry also crossed the whitewash in the closing stages.

Ian Madigan, standing in for Jonny Sexton, kicked two penalties and four goals. Tonita finished with 7 points for Romania.

Kearney hurt his hip going over and it will be 48 hours before Ireland can be confident he can face Italy in their their third group D fixture.

Romanian chief Lynn Howells insists Ireland will go deep into the competition.

"They have all-round ability - good lineout and scrum and well marshalled in contact areas," he said. 

"They can play at a high tempo and have a decent kicking game."

There was one very happy Romanian at Wembley today however.

Replacement Florin Surugiu proposed to his girlfriend on the hallowed turf - and she accepted, every cloud has a silver lining.

Scorers:

Ireland. Tries: Bowe 2, Earls 2, Henry, Kearney. Pen: Madigan 2. Gls: Madigan 4.

Romania: Try: Tonita. Pen: Calatefeanu. Gl: Vlaicu.

 
Ireland: 15 Simon Zebo, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Jared Payne, 12 Darren Cave, 11 Keith Earls, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Eoin Reddan; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Richardt Strauss, 3 Nathan White, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 5 Devin Toner, 6 Jordi Murphy, 7 Chris Henry, Jamie Heaslip (c).

Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Tadhg Furlong, 19 Paul O'Connell, 20 Sean O'Brien, 21 Conor Murray, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Rob Kearney.

Romania: 15 Catalin Fercu, 14 Adrian Apostol, 13 Paula Kinikinilau, 12 Csaba Gal, 11 Ionut Botezatu, 10- Michael Wiringi, 9 Valentin Calafeteanu; 1 Andrei Ursache, 2 Andrei Radoi, 3 Paulica Ion, 4 Valentin Poparlan, 5 Ovidiu Tonita, 6 Viorel Lucaci, 7 Mihai Macovei (c), 8 Daniel Carpo.

Replacements: 16 Mihaita Lazar, 17 Otar Turashvili, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 Johannes van Heerden, 20 Stelian Burcea, 21 Florin Surugiu, 22 Florin Ionita, 23 Florin Vlaicu.