Poor Ireland scrape past Georgia
Brian O'Driscoll will have to lift his players for the France game
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Saturday, 15, Sep 2007 10:44
Ireland almost suffered one of the biggest upsets in rugby history this evening before scraping to a 14-10 win against World Cup minnows Georgia in Bordeaux this evening.
After putting in a lacklustre performance in the 32-17 win over Namibia in their Pool D opener, Ireland were expected to rack up the points against a team which they had beaten by more than 50 points in two previous World Cup matches.
But it was anything but a walkover for the Irish and they had to agonise over a late decision by the video referee on a possible Georgia try, which was eventually not given, to scrape to victory.
Ireland got off to a decent start as their big pack drove over the Georgian line with hooker Rory Best coming up with the ball to claim the try. Ronan O'Gara scored the conversion to give his side a 7-0 lead.
But that was all a ragged Irish side managed to conjure up in the first half. They failed to get the ball to talisman Brian O'Driscoll on enough occasions and rarely looked like breaking the Georgian defence. The minnows even managed to convert a penalty to go in 7-3 down at half-time.
A large crown of Irish fans looked bemused at the break, but were completely stunned by what happened five minutes into the second half. Giorgi Shkinin intercepted a wayward pass by scrum-half Peter Stringer and ran almost the length of the pitch to score a try. Merab Kvirikashvili stepped up to slot home the conversion to give Georgia a 10-7 lead.
Georgia held the lead for almost 15 minutes before Girvan Dempsey restored Ireland's lead with a try after a good run by Gordon D'Arcy. O'Gara's conversion gave Ireland a 14-10 lead.
Instead of going for more tries, a shell-shocked Ireland team struggled to handle the forward pressure put on by the Georgians.
With their favourite pick-up and drive attack Georgia almost claimed a famous win. But when they did go over the Irish try-line, the ball was under so many players the video referee could not determine if the ball had been grounded.
Ireland managed to hang on for the win but will have to improve a great deal if they are to have any hope of beating France next week.