Andrew GUMMER in Dublin

  RWC QUAL: IRELAND 63  GEORGIA 14

 In this second meeting between these two sides, 
  superior Irish technique and experience counted, 
  and Lelos went down 63-14, and by 8 tries to two

  But from 42-0 down at half time, Lelos recovered 
  superbly in the second half, and from the 40th to the 
  75th minute outscored Ireland by two tries to one.  

  As the Vice President of the Georgian RU, Zaza 
  Kassashvili said, 'if you look at it one way, we are 
  21 points better than four years ago, when we could
  not score and conceded 70 points'

Irish no.8 and captain Anthony Foley, having now played 
against both Russia and Georgia, tipped Lelos as favourites 
to beat arch-rivals Russia in Tbilissi, particularly with 
home advantage and a crowd of 70,000 in place

In the first half, Georgia were rocked by a series of 
Irish attacks and conceded over a point a minute.  
Left winger Denis Hickie went over after just two 
minutes from first phase possession to open the scoring, 
and Lelos fullback Khamshuridze showed his nerves three 
minutes later by gathering and kicking to touch an Irish 
kick that was going out of play anyway, gaining almost no 
ground and losing the throw-in

Two Ronan O'Gara penalties and a Kevin Maggs try took the 
score to 20-0 before 15 minutes were up.  So far Lelos had 
won almost no restart or second phase ball, but then attacked 
inside the Irish 22.  But the ball was lost forward in the 
tackle and the attack came to nothing

Ireland were soon on the attack once more, with Welsh referee 
Nigel Williams penalising Lelos for a line-out offence (23-0),
and four minutes later a Georgian clearance kick was charged down,
Brian O'Driscoll touched down, O'Gara converted, and the Irish 
were out of sight already at 30-0

Georgia began to come into the game, starting to win penalties - 
none kickable however - and line-out ball.  Zibzibadze was in 
the clear after one attack but was rightly called back for a 
forward pass.  Didebulidze (may be Zedguinidze) won the respect 
of the crowd for an awesome tackle within yards of his own line, 
driving the Irish attacker two yards back, but the ball was 
retained and Ireland crossed again on the wide right.  The try 
was converted for 37-0

Lelos best first half attack came soon after - a three to one 
overlap was created, but the opportunity was lost when the pass 
went behind the Lelos attackers.  But Georgia remained in the 
Ireland half for five minutes, and only conceded one more score, 
an unconverted try, before the break. Half Time 42-0

The second half began as the first ended, with a Simon Easterby 
try under the posts.  But then began Georgia's period of dominance:
Ireland did not score again for 34 minutes, in which time 
substitute Vassil Katsadze and full back Khamshuridze went over 
for converted tries, bringing the score to 49-14. Katsadze's try 
came after a period of sustained Georgian pressure, and won applause 
from a crowd of some 20,000 people

Ireland did have chances to score in this period, once spilling 
the ball when over the Georgian line, and the Irish line out was 
always superior to Georgia's. The Georgian pack, and front row in 
particular, held its own against a talented Irish eight, and this 
half hour will have shown many people how far Georgian rugby has 
come.  In the last five minutes, Ireland roused themselves to score 
two further tries for a final 63-14 score, but there can be no doubt 
that Lelos won respect for their second half showing

Coach Claude Saurel and the Mr Lassashvili spoke after the game of 
their pride at Lelos' performance in the second half.  The game 
resulted in a heavy defeat for Georgia, but the two officials 
insisted that they were not too downhearted 

'What is needed', they said, 'is more games - more 
games against major opposition'  

For Ireland, coach Eddie O'Sullivan said that Georgia 
were 'a different side' in the second half

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              FACT File  

 Ireland: 15 Girvan Dempsey; 14 John Kelly, 13 Brian O'Driscoll, 
12 Kevin Maggs (22 Rob Henderson), 11 Denis Hickie; 10 Ronan O'Gara 
(21 David Humphreys), 9 Peter Stringer (20 Guy Easterby);

1 Reggie Corrigan, 2 Shane Byrne (16 Frank Sheahan), 3 John Hayes 
(17 Paul Wallace); 4 Gary Longwell (19 Leo Cullen), 5 Malcolm O'Kelly; 
6 Simon Easterby (19 Anthony Quinlan), 7 Keith Gleeson, 8 Anthony Foley 
CAPT

8T: Hickie, Maggs, O'Driscoll 2, Dempsey, S Easterby, Quinlan, G Easterby;
7C: O'Gara 5, Humphreys 2; 3P: O'Gara 


 Georgia: 15 Bessik Khamashuridze, 11 Badri Khekhelashvili (20 Elguja 
Iovadze), 14 Malkhaz Urjukashvili; 13 Tedo Zibzibadze, 12 Kakha Alania 
(21 Vassil Katsadze), 10 Paul Jimsheladze (22 Otar Barkalaia*); 
9 Irakli Abusseridze 

1 Goderdzi Shvelidze (16 Mevlud Mtiulishvili SB), 2 Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 
3 Levan Tsabadze (17 Tariel Ratianidze); 4 Vano Nadiradze, 5 Victor 
Didebulidze; 6 David Bolghashvili (19 Irakli Gundishvili*, 18 Zurab 
Mtchedlishvili), 7 George Chkhaidze, 8 Ilia Zedguinidze CAPT. (* New Cap)

2T: Katsadze, Khamashuridze; 2C: Urjukashvili

REF: Nigel Williams; TJs: Nigel Whitehouse, Nigel Owens (Wales)

SCORING SEQUENCE from KLITCH.NET

7-0(3) 10-0(7) 13-0(11) 20-0(14) 23-0(21) 30-0(25) 37-0(32) 42-0(40) HT
49-0(45) 49-7(51) 49-14(71) 56-14(77) 63-14(80)  FT

 Zedguinidze became Lelos 11th captain, and Gundishvili and Barkalaia 
 121st and 122nd Lelos respectively 

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            PIX by Andrew Gummer