London (AFP)
Despite a superb back test and great resistance, Georgia gave in against Ireland (23-10) on Saturday for the third day of the Rugby Nations Cup, the Irish taking second place in the hen A.
In the 3rd place classification match next week, Ireland host Scotland, while England host France at Twickenham for the final.
Georgia, which faces Fiji at Murrayfield for 7th place, came out of this match without any real stake for the standings, despite a third setback.
Not having scored a single point against England (40-0) or Wales (18-0), she scored 10 this time, including a spectacular try from her center Giorgi Kveseladze who mystified him all alone the Irish defense, including a magnificent pass that left behind Jacob Stockdale (10-7, 17th).
Not bad for a team that is said to only live with its bunch of forwards!
Unfortunately for the "Lelos", Ireland had already found the fault with their opening half Billy Burns from the 8th minute, the latter having added a conversion and a penalty 5 minutes later to bring the score to 10-0 ( 13th).
A new penalty from Burns and a converted try from winger Hugo Keenan at the end of the line (33rd) allowed Ireland to reach the break with a fairly comfortable lead (20-7).
The second act was more messy and the two teams drew 3-3, a penalty from Ross Byrne (58th) responding to another from Tedo Abzhandadze (47th).
But this match is an encouragement for Georgia who remained on several complicated outings against the great European nations and who need this kind of match to progress and gain confidence.
© 2020 AFP