Georgia unlucky - Ireland win 14-10 in Pool D match
15-Sep-2007
In a tense match, the Men in Green held off multiple attacks by the Lelos and triumphed 14-10 at the Chaban Delmas Stadium in Bordeaux on Saturday.
Underdogs Georgia can be proud of putting up such a fight and were perhaps unlucky not to have won the match as they dominated possession especially in the second half.
Ireland scored the first points of the match with a converted try by Rory Best in the 17th minute. They probably felt reasonably confident at that stage of meeting their goal of 4 tries during the match - enough to earn a bonus point in the competitive Pool D. But the Lelos held the Men in Green to just a 4 point lead at halftime and went into the second half full of enthusiasm.
Georgia's Giorgi Shkinin touched down in the 45th minute to put the Lelos ahead 10-7. Ireland had to forget about bonus points with the realisation that the match was not a sure win for them. They struck back 10 minutes later with a converted try by Ronan O'Gara but then suffered 25 minutes of almost constant onslaught by the Georgians and they were lucky to survive unscathed.
Despite spending a lot of time a few metres out from the Irish tryline, the Lelos were unable to cross over for a try. Frustrated, they attempted dropgoals, missing 3 of them in the last 20 minutes of the game. They thought their break had come a few minutes before fulltime as they crossed the line during some heavy driving, but the video-ref ruled that the ball was held up and no try was awarded.
Georgia kept the pressure on right until the end but at the fulltime whistle Ireland remained ahead, winning by 14-10. Georgia picked up a Pool D bonus point for losing by such a close margin and the pressure is now on for Ireland to qualify with two tough matches ahead, against France on September 21 and Argentina on September 30.
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