How Others Saw It

Ireland produced a brilliant and bewildering performance in the second of their Rugby World cup qualifiers at Lansdowne Road. – Sunday World.

The chasm between the haves and the have-nots was clearly illustrated on Saturday when Ireland completed the formality of qualifying for next year’s World Cup. – Brendan Gallagher, The Daily Telegraph.

Somehow, this Irish team, like many before, just don’t have that ruthless killer instinct. – Gerry Thornley, The Irish Times.

Ireland played a cautious enough game in the first half and still had 42 points in the bank by half-time. – Brendan Fanning, The Sunday Independent.

For about 25 minutes or so in the second half this had all the appearance if none of the atmosphere, of a genuine test match. – Peter O’Reilly, The Sunday Tribune.

On a magnificently manicured Lansdowne pitch Ireland produced 40 plus minutes of clinically efficient rugby to match the quality of this truly excellent running sward. – Tony Ward, The Irish Independent.

Ireland machine-gunned the opposition in a 42 minute blood-bath as they won the second of their World Cup qualifiers. Playing breathtaking rugby, they ran the midnight train all over the hapless Georgians – and reversed over the corpses a couple of times for bad measure. – Derek Foley, The Star.

For much of the game this was by far the most convincing performance of the season for Ireland. But once again, there are signs foe concern as the side huffed and puffed a little in the second half. – Barry Coughlan, The Irish Examiner.