Post Match Analysis

Following Ireland’s emphatic victory over Georgia, Eddie O’Sullivan was generally happy with his team’s performance. “We can wave goodbye to this part of the season. The World Cup qualifiers are done and dusted”.
Commenting on the low scoring in the second half, O’Sullivan highlighted the amount of travelling the team has done. “We have traveled 6000 miles in the last week, Georgia didn’t have to travel that far for this match. We should have had more points up which is disappointing, but we are through now, and that is enough.”
“For the moment the players are being sent back to the provinces, but the clash with Argentina in November will show how much Ireland’s rugby has improved in the last four years.”

Captain, Anthony Foley was also happy with the outcome of the game. “I’m happy with the teamwork overall. As it is early in the season, I think the team should be happy today.” Foley sees the upcoming matches as essential in preparation for RWC 2003. “We are a pretty happy camp right now. The next few games against Australia and Fiji will be interesting”

David Humphreys, who replaced Ronan O’Gara in the last quarter, felt that the most important aspect of today’s game was to win and qualify. He commented on fatigue as playing a role in the game. “Towards the end, the tiredness showed but overall, we did what we came to do.”

Ireland now face Australia, Fiji and Argentina in November. These games will prove to be a good test of the team character for the upcoming Six Nations Championship, and even better still, the Rugby World Cup in 2003.