JAMIE HEASLIP SAID it was a “humbling experience” to see an army of travelling Irish fans turn Wembley into a home away from home.
A predominantly Irish crowd of 89,297 packed into London’s famous football stadium to watch Joe Schmidt’s side run in six tries against Romania.
It set a new attendance record for the Rugby World Cup, eclipsing the 89,019 who watched New Zealand beat Argentina last week.
Heaslip said: “From last week to this week, and to be honest the last couple of weeks when we were playing the summer internationals, the support has been amazing.
“To have this 90,000-plus seater stadium filled out with Irish people has been a pretty humbling experience.
We hope that this sea of green keeps flooding in.
The bonus-point win moves Ireland back into pole position at the top of Pool D with crucial games against Italy and France still to come.
It has been the perfect start but Heaslip would not be drawn on Ireland’s tag as dark horses to go all the way and win the tournament.
“We’re just focused week-by-week on the games that are ahead of us. That’s the only thing we can look at, that’s the only thing we can plan and control.
This was another week where we focused hard, another opportunity for guys to wear the jersey and do it proud in front of this kind of crowd.
“Hopefully now we get back, recover, and go hard next week.”
