Ireland v Romania: Scotland, ranked 10th in the world, had to come from behind to beat them 39-19 in the Dinamo Arena in June.

Last week they defeated Canada, ranked by the International Rugby Board one place above them. When they have their French-based professional players in harness, Romania, the 15th-ranked rugby team in the world, have reason to feel that they are not the paupers of world rugby anymore.

Director of Rugby, Robert Antonini, is a Frenchman who worked with the IRB and was coach of the French under-19 teams, as he puts it "some years ago."

He has watched rugby progress within the country and federation and incrementally he continues to see movement in the right direction. Romania look on their Irish visit as Ireland might look at a match against the All Blacks - probable defeat but a chance to measure standards against a nation with a much higher ranking. If Ireland were given a stark vision of exactly where they sit in comparison with the top teams, Romania are hoping to avoid such a sharp lesson as a 40-point beating. In their more structured and professional set-up there is guarded optimism.

"Yes," says Antonini, "there are more of our players based now in France than in the past. We have in the first 22 players who line out on Saturday, 14 who play in France. In the elite championship in France, we have between 35 and 40 players playing in the top two divisions. Then we have maybe 150 players playing in the lower amateur divisions.

"It was some years ago now that we had economic problems. The players used to leave their country maybe only to eat. And if they played rugby it was easier for them to do that. Regarding the national team now, we have no difficulty because we have a very good staff at the head of the federation, who work hard. We also have a lot of sponsors. I was the technical director for France for 11 years with the under-19s and I know that the conditions now with Romania are better than what I knew with France some years ago."

While the team remains a mixture of professional and amateurs, the timing of matches for Romania has an enormous bearing on their results. If their international schedule coincides with matches in the French championship the squad will not have their professional players released, which includes the entire first choice pack. "For the French-based players to play it depends in whether there is the French championship going on. If the French championship is on then we get zero players. It is so difficult with the professional clubs to ask them for their players during the championship," says Antonini.

"In France, though, there are many players from Argentina as well. Ninety per cent of the Puma team play in France so when the Argentinians are going with the Pumas, I telephone the coaches of the clubs and I say I need my Romanian players."

It sounds occasionally like a bit of a scramble, but the squad insist they are evolving and are coming closer to the point where they might beat a top-10 side such as Ireland. While they lost 28-22 against the USA this year, it was without their professional core and in that context looked like a good result. The entire squad was selected from Romanian club sides.

"I think that is so. I think so," says Antonini on whether the team has shown improvement at international level. "We beat Italy last year. We played a very good game against Scotland. Maybe if we qualify for our group in the World Cup . . . it could be the All Blacks and that's very good because they'll beat everybody and then Italy, Scotland and maybe one team from the play-offs. So there we have a chance, a little one but a chance."

So Ireland rumble back to Lansdowne Road with a kaleidoscope of different pressures. Weakened maybe? "Yes perhaps," shrugs Antonini. "But weak against New Zealand and Australia. If it was weak against Scotland or Italy okay but New Zealand are fantastic today and Australia lost their games in France and England so it is normal. I know the Irish team very well and I know that on Saturday it will be very hard for us."