Georgia 24 Ireland 20
Ireland’s World Rugby U-20 Championship took another turn for the worse when they fell to a first ever defeat to Georgia in the competition.
Ireland never led in the contest in Narbonne and will now face the relegation battle in the two concluding rounds next week.
Noel McNamara's men, having began poorly in the losses against France and South Africa, again failed to get out of the starting blocks and found themselves 17-3 adrift after just 22 minutes.
Early Georgian pressure yielded a try after eleven minutes when lock Arsen Machaladze got over after a neat inside pass from superb scrum-half Gela Aprasidze.
Ireland didn’t help their cause with basic handling errors and while Conor Dean pulled back a penalty from 47 metres after 13 minutes, Georgia continued to pull away.
Aprasidze cancelled Dean’s penalty inside four minutes and it took some good defending to keep the Georgians at bay.
Ireland finally started to build phases and were given hope when Georgian flanker Sandro Mamamtavrishville was yellow-carded for a high tackle on Irish full-back Peter Sylvester.
It took some fine defence from Georgia to repel a series of Irish forays but just when it seemed Ireland were making inroads, a pass from centre James Hume was intercepted by Sandro Svanidze and he ran from his own 22 to score under the posts, Aprasidze’s conversion making it 17-3.
Ireland did not panic and finally got some go-forward ball and while a succession of bursts off penalties were repelled, a nine-phase movement was eventually finished when they went wide to the right and out-half Dean stepped inside to score and leave it 17-8 at the break.
But it was Georgia who struck first after the restart, breaking from inside their own 22 with superb control before winger Demur Tapladze sent a grubber infield which his out-half Tedo Abhandadze reacted to the quickest to score under the posts, the conversion making it 24-8.
Ireland’s luck on the night was exemplified in the closing quarter when three TMO decisions went against them.
First captain Caelan Doris was adjudged to have made a double movement before grounding after 67 minutes, then a pass from him was ruled forward when replacement scrum-half Jonny Stewart scored and in the closing minutes a touchdown from the impressive Sean O’Brien was ruled out after a Georgian hand got to the ball just prior to that.
It all summed up a frustrating and bitterly disappointing night for the Irish who must regroup for the 9-12th place play-offs.
Ireland did managed to finish well with Dan Sheehan getting over for a late try and replacement tighthead Kuba Wojtkowicz scored on his debut in the final play.
REACTION: Tedo Abzhandadze gives us his thoughts after @GeorgianRugby U20s beat Ireland at the #WorldRugbyU20s pic.twitter.com/Dj2Ffl7mzv
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) June 7, 2018
Scorers - Georgia: Tries: Machaladze, Svanidze, Abzhandadze. Penalties: Aprasidze. Conversions: Aprasidze (3). Ireland: Tries: Dean, Sheehan, Wojtkowicz. Penalties: Dean. Conversion: H Byrne
Georgia: Beka Mamukashvili; Demur Tapladze, Sandro Svanidze (Lasha Lomidze 40), Giorgi Tsiklauri (Kote Marjanishvili 64), Otar Dzagnidze; Tedo Abzhandadze, Gela Aprasidze; Guram Gogichashvili (Giorgi Nutsubidze 66), Levan Papidze (Tengizi Zamtaradze 67), Luka Japaridze (Gia Kharaishvili 67); Beka Saghinadze, Arsen Machaladze; Sandro Mamamtavrishvili (Lasha Jaiani 66), Archil Abesadze (Tengiz Gigolashvili 39), Tornike Jalagonia.
Ireland: Peter Sylvester (Munster); Peter Sullivan (Leinster), Tommy O’Brien Leinster) (James McCarthy (Munster 45), James Hume (Ulster), Sean O’Brien (Leinster); Conor Dean (Leinster) (Harry Byrne (Leinster 57), Hugh O’Sullivan (Leinster) (Jonny Stewart (Ulster 67); Jordan Duggan (Leinster) (Bryan O’Connor (Munster 71), Diarmuid Barron (Munster) (Dan Sheehan (Leinster 71), Jack Aungier (Leinster) (Jakub Wojtkowicz (Connacht 71); Matthew Dalton Ulster) (Cormac Daly (Leinster 62), Jack Dunne (Leinster); Aaron Hall (Ulster) (Matthew Agnew (Ulster 60), Jack Daly (Munster), Caelan Doris (Leinster).
Referee: Jamie Nutbrown (New Zealand)
