Ireland's World Cup falling apart

Ireland 14 Georgia 10: If the mood in the Irish camp was somewhat subdued going into this contest, tonight's performance will have done precious little to lift spirits ahead of next weekend's crucial showdown with France.

Up against a hugely physical Georgian outfit, Ireland were dragged into a war of attrition and only just emerged with the points intact. As for a bonus point - forget it.

A four point win is hardly what was expected against what was essentially Georgia's second string and huge question marks remain over Ireland's ability to qualify from this group.

Starved of possession for lengthy periods, Eddie O'Sullivan's side were left hanging in the final quarter and had barely survived massive Georgian pressure on the Irish line.

Indeed, had one of Merab Kvirikashvili's several drop goal attempts found its target Ireland could have been on the wrong end of the greatest upset in the World Cup's 20-year history.

Handling errors, particularly in the first-half, and the poor form of an out of sorts Ronan O'Gara will give O'Sullivan cause for concern but the collective inability to put together a performance worthy of this team was again the biggest disappointment.

O'Sullivan's side have now failed to fire on six consecutive occasions. Unless that statistic can be turned around within a week Ireland will be coming home early as it now looks likely that likely they will have to beat both France and Argentina to simply emerge from Pool D.

After outhalf Merab Kvirikashvili failed with an early attempt, Rory Best grabbed the first points of the game, driving over in the 17th minute for a try converted by O'Gara.

But despite establishing a  number of attacking platforms, Ireland were unable to convert pressure into points with individual errors largely to blame. Kvirikashvili succeded with a penalty late in the half to bridge the gap to 7-3 at half-time.
 
The Georgians were magnificent after the break and even led until the 53rd minute when Dempsey crossed
for the decisive try. Impressive Blois winger Giorgi Shkinin had plundered an interception score four minutes into the second half to nudge the muscular Georgians ahead

Ireland were supposed to be the fitter team but Georgia finished strongly, keeping possession and pounding away at the opposition in thrilling grandstand finish.

The stadium was on tenterhooks when Denis Leamy denied Georgia over the line in the 78th minute with referee Wayne Barnes seeking confirmation from the video referee.

Georgia had thrown everything at Ireland and spent the dying moments bulldozing forward, but could not produce the winning score. A lack of composure at key moments let them down.

O'Sullivan lamented Ireland's crippling turnover rate against the Namibians and there was little improvement tonight with errors crippling their ambition once again.

Georgia won most of the collisions and contested possession at the breakdown with an intensity that was beyond anything Ireland could produce.

And there could be bad news for number eight Leamy who lucky to escape a card for a deliberate stamp on Ilia Maiuradze in a 29th minute the citing officer will examine closely.

Scores

Ireland
Tries: Rory Best, Girvan Dempsey.
Conversions: Ronan O'Gara (2).

Georgia
Tries: Giorgi Shkinin.
Conversion: Merab Kvirikashvili, Penalty: Kvirikashvili.

Yellow card: David Wallace (Ireland) 37

Ireland- 15-Girvan Dempsey, 14-Shane Horgan, 13-Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12-Gordon D'Arcy, 11-Denis Hickie, 10-Ronan O'Gara, 9-Peter Stringer (20-Isaac Boss 70), 8-Denis Leamy, 7-David Wallace, 6-Simon Easterby (19-Neil Best 72), 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Donnacha O'Callaghan, 3-John Hayes (17-Simon Best 66), 2-Rory Best (16-Jerry Flannery 53), 1-Marcus Horan. Replacements not used: 18-Malcolm O'Kelly, 21-Paddy Wallace, 22-Geordan Murphy

Georgia- 15-Otar Barkalaia (21-Malkhaz Urjukashvili 34), 14-Giorgi Shkinin, 13-Revaz Gigauri, 12-Davit Kacharava, 11-Giorgi Elizbarashvili ( 22-Otar Eloshvili), 10-Merab Kvirikashvili, 9-Bidzina Samkharadze (20-Irakli Abuseridze 72), 8-Giorgi Chkhaidze, 7-Rati Urushadze, 6-Ilia Maisuradze (19-Zviad Maisuradze 58), 5-Mamuka Gorgodze, 4-Ilia Zedginidze (18-Levan Datunashvili 32), 3-Avtandil Kopailiani (17-David Khinchagashvili 48), 2-Goderzi Shvelidze, 1-Mamuka Magrakvelidze (16-Akvsenti Giorgadze 48)

Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)