Does pg_rman restore datafiles

If anybody on this list has any expertise/experience with pg_rman I will be grateful if they can advise me on the following:

(Note I have also posted this onto the pg_rman google group):

If I create a tablespace called test then I get the following
[postgres(at)train03:~/datafiles/test]$ pwd
/var/lib/pgsql/datafiles/test
[postgres(at)train03:~/datafiles/test]$ ls -lt
total 4
drwx------. 2 postgres postgres 4096 Dec 12 15:27 PG_9.2_201204301
[postgres(at)train03:~/datafiles/test]$
However if I then do:
rm -rf /var/lib/pgsql/data/*
rm -rf /var/lib/pgsql/datafiles/test/*
i.e. delete the physical datafile and then do a restore from a previous back I get the below:
[postgres(at)train03:~/datafiles/test]$ ls -lt
total 0
[postgres(at)train03:~/datafiles/test]$
[postgres(at)train03:~/data/pg_tblspc]$ pwd
/var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_tblspc
[postgres(at)train03:~/data/pg_tblspc]$ ls -lt
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 postgres postgres 54 Dec 12 15:28 16410 -> /var/lib/pgsql/datafiles/test
[postgres(at)train03:~/data/pg_tblspc]$ ls -lt /var/lib/pgsql/datafiles/test
total 0
[postgres(at)train03:~/data/pg_tblspc]$
Is this expected behaviour?
Does pg_rman restore physical datafiles?
Thanks
Austen

Austen Birchall Senior Database Administrator
Met Office FitzRoy Road Exeter EX1 3PB United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1392 884481 Fax: +44 (0)1392 885681
E-mail: austen(dot)birchall(at)metoffice(dot)gov(dot)uk Website: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk