Johnny Sexton starred on his return to the Ireland side as Andy Farrell's men began their Rugby World Cup campaign with a record 82-8 thumping of Romania in Bordeaux this afternoon.

The 38-year-old, who had not played competitive rugby of any kind since March due to a mixture of injury and suspension, scored 24 points before being brought off, knocking over seven conversions and running in two tries of his own.

Ireland scored 12 tries in total as they put the expected Pool B whipping boys to the sword, opening their World Cup campaign with their biggest-ever victory in the tournament as they bid to back up their world number one ranking with a first-ever run past the World Cup quarter-finals.

Bundee Aki, Peter O'Mahony and Tadhg Beirne all joined Sexton in crossing the line twice, but it was the returning captain who will hog the headlines once again.

As well as touching down himself - once just before half time and again shortly after the hour mark - Sexton's conversions saw him surpass predecessor Ronan O'Gara as the leading points scorer in World Cup history for Ireland as he posted his best-ever individual return in a Test match.

The fly-half, who is retiring at the end of the tournament, is also now just nine points behind O'Gara's overall record tally in Tests for Ireland.

Sexton was ably assisted by those around him in an utterly dominant victory, although they did go behind early on when Gabriel Rupanu went over for Romania after only three minutes - the second-fastest try Ireland had ever conceded at a World Cup.

Any fleeting hopes of the biggest upset in World Cup history were snuffed out almost immediately through Jamison Gibson-Park's try two minutes later, and Hugo Keenan, Beirne, Aki and Sexton all touched down before half time too.

Rob Herring, man of the match O'Mahony (2) and Joe McCarthy also scored tries in the second half - as well as second scores for Sexton, Aki and Beirne - as Ireland passed the 80-point mark at a World Cup for the first time.

Ireland will look to make it two wins from two when they face Tonga next Saturday, while Romania face another difficult test against South Africa in their next outing. body check tags ::