Persistent rain within the Georgian capital may have made life troublesome for an inexperienced Eire facet which featured debutants O’Brien and Darragh Murray within the beginning line-up and simply 12 caps price of expertise within the entrance row.
However having scored tries in two Champions Cup knockout video games for Leinster within the latter phases of the 2024-25 season, Take a look at rookie O’Brien confirmed no indicators of nerve whereas crossing twice within the opening eight minutes.
Within the second minute, the 27-year-old latched on to Sam Prendergast’s chip over the Georgian defence to cross unchallenged earlier than ending within the nook on eight minutes after an Irish scrum 5 metres out from the house facet’s tryline.
Whereas O’Brien’s early double had Eire smiling within the Georgian rain, the hosts shook off a shaky begin and thought that they had scored via Akaki Tabutsadze, who dove over the road regardless of Jamie Osborne’s last-ditch sort out.
Whereas the house gamers celebrated, the winger’s attempt was dominated out after he was adjudged to have misplaced management of the ball earlier than touching it down.
From there, the primary half descended right into a sequence of scrums, certainly one of which led to an altercation between the 2 units of gamers after Georgia gained a scrum penalty.
When Eire did get shifting once more, they seemed harmful, with O’Brien turning supplier for Prendergast to complete athletically within the nook. The fly-half’s pleasure at scoring his first worldwide attempt was short-lived, nevertheless, as his foot was appropriately dominated to have been in contact earlier than he grounded the ball.
There was nothing mistaken with Georgia’s attempt, although, which gave the Irish lots to ponder as Jalagonia powered his approach over the road within the final act of the primary half to go away 9 factors between the edges.
