Holland Lifts Tbilisi Cup For Emerging Ireland

Having led the side in the absence of squad captain Rhys Ruddock, Munster’s Billy Holland this afternoon lifted the Tbilisi Cup after Emerging Ireland’s third straight bonus point win of the tournament, defeating host nation Georgia 45-12. It is the first time Emerging Ireland have claimed the Cup.

Holland did however only feature for the first 7 minutes of the game, after which a knock to the ankle forced him from the field of play with Connacht’s Andrew Browne coming on in his place.

After a tight first half, Allen Clarke's young side cut loose with five second half tries – Matt Healy, Eoghan Masterson, John Cooney, Munster’s Andrew Conway and Finlay Bealham all touched down – to give the Rugby World Cup-bound Lelos a heavy beating in front of the watching Joe Schmidt.

The Georgians scored two tries through their forwards, with number 8 Lasha Lomidze's sixth-minute effort giving them an early lead and replacement lock Otar Giorgadze being driven over before the hour mark.

However, Emerging Ireland, who led 10-5 at the break thanks to a penalty try, dominated the final quarter with Cooney, Conway and Bealham all scoring in a profitable nine-minute spell.

Georgia were hurting from their surprise midweek loss to Emerging Italy, a result which confirmed the Irish as champions before the final round, and a bout of early pressure led to Lomidze making the try-line under a pile of bodies.

Beka Tsiklauri, who missed an earlier drop goal effort, hit the post with his conversion attempt from wide on the right.

The Irish began to find some space in midfield with Noel Reid threatening and Jack Conan and Munster loosehead James Cronin carrying aggressively around the fringes. Their opening points came from a scrum penalty converted by Munster 10 JJ Hanrahan.

As the game began to open up, Conway threatened from Luke McGrath's quick tap penalty and Healy had a couple of runs in off his left wing. However, a combination of determined Georgian defence and Irish knock-ons left the scoreboard unmoved.

A tremendous counter attack from Healy should have led to a try, but the Lelos scrambled back well. Yet, they had no answer to a subsequent lineout maul from a penalty in the 22, Ben Marshall tapping down neatly to Masterson to set up the drive and the Georgians' infringing resulted in a penalty try.

Hanrahan added the extras and following a period where neither side could penetrate, the Kerry man miscued a late penalty from halfway as a competitive first half came to a close.

With Dan Leavy putting in a big shift up front, Emerging Ireland increased their accuracy and tempo on the resumption and it quickly paid dividends as Healy did well to hold onto Cooney's flat pass and score from close range.

Hanrahan's conversion from the left made it 17-5 and Georgia were down to 14 men just two minutes later – Alexandre Khutsishvili saw yellow for a deliberate knock-on as the fast-breaking Conway threatened to put the supporting Leavy away.

Emerging Ireland followed up with arguably their best try of the tournament. Hanrahan sparked a long range break on the left, Healy and Stuart McCloskey linked near the touchline and the latter's clever kick through was retrieved by Cooney. A quick recycle and lovely hands from Munster tighthead Stephen Archer and Conan sent Masterson over for a memorable seven-pointer.

The Georgians showed their mettle by answering back within six minutes, a muscular maul near the right corner putting Giorgadze over and Tsiklauri's conversion made it a 12-point game.

The benches were in full flow but as the Georgians tired, Emerging Ireland exploited the space afforded to them. Cooney showed a clean pair of heels to three defenders as he scooted over straight from a scrum in the hosts' 22. Hanrahan converted for 31-12.

Munster flyer Conway finished smartly for a deserved try with seven minutes remaining, and some terrific interplay between backs and forwards led to try number six. From a speedy Hanrahan-inspired break, Conan burst through a gap in the 22 and his inside pass sent replacement prop Bealham over just to the right of the posts.

Hanrahan's sixth successful conversion brought the curtain down on another title-winning summer campaign for Emerging Ireland as they added the Tbilisi Cup to last year's Nations Cup win.

Emerging Ireland: Tiernan O'Halloran; Andrew Conway, Stuart McCloskey (Griffin 58), Noel Reid (Nelson 68), Matt Healy; JJ Hanrahan, Luke McGrath (Cooney 40); James Cronin (Buckley 40), Rob Herring (Heffernan 73), Stephen Archer (Bealham 73); Ben Marshall (Taggart 70), Billy Holland – capt. (Browne 7) Eoghan Masterson, Dan Leavy, Jack Conan

Replacements: Dave Heffernan, Denis Buckley, Finlay Bealham, Andrew Browne, Frank Taggart, John Cooney, Eoin Griffin, Peter Nelson