I watched the game. Healy, Masterson, cooney and Bealham scored. Healy was quiet in the first half but showed his class in the second half. Cooney was a different class when he came on and scored a fantastic try. He really upped the tempo and got the team moving. Irish scrum in the first half was awful. Buckley started in second half and improved it immensely. When all the connacht lads came off the bench they just blew Georgia away. Maybe it was them tiring but it was great to watch the attacking rugby. Masterson will be a huge asset for us this season. Browne came in after a few mins with an injury to Holland. Honestly he didn't impress at all and was fairly anonymous.

phatguerilla wrote: The benefit isn't really for Ireland beyond a (probably modest) pay day for the IRFU. Its supposed to be to help developing tier 2/3 nations, but as you say you wonder how that can be worthwhile for them to keep getting thumped.

It's worthwhile in that without European Club competition for their domestic based players (the vast majority of the Georgia squad) they are getting a chance to test themselves against players with that sort of experience.

A full Georgia side (including all their ex-pats in Top14 etc) would have pushed the EI squad close; and possibly have been too strong...
The Eastern European sides still haven't resolved the problem of producing enough quality at 12-15, although the Sevens involvement in the lead up to Rio may help....

The benefit isn't really for Ireland beyond a (probably modest) pay day for the IRFU. Its supposed to be to help developing tier 2/3 nations, but as you say you wonder how that can be worthwhile for them to keep getting thumped.

Haven't seen any of it but from what I have read and heard, Matt Healy has made a good impression albeit against limited opposition. Hope he at least gets a chance to prove himself in the pre-World Cup friendlies.

You'd wonder as to the benefit of this competition though. Churchill Cup used to be a useful tournament. This looks a couple of levels below that.

Completely forgot about the match today. Ended up with a 45-12 win for IRL.

A try for Bealham and Masterson and two for Healy.

Georgia 10 - 26 Emerging Italy

So that's the cup won.

Ben Marshall with a try at the death to make it 33-7 to IRL

Try for Cooney

IRL 12-0 up with 10 mins gone

Healy out with a stomach bug

Big floods in Tbilisi last night. Zoo animals roaming the streets. That could be the end of that. Weather looked lovely yesterday.

Thanks for the updates. Now that you've seen the Emerging Ireland team play does it change/guide your impression of whether the players are close to the senior team or not? Obviously players like Ruddock have already been capped but most haven't, do you see it as a stepping stone for players or is it really just a pay day of sorts for the IRFU? The scoreline leads me to believe that you can't read much into these games. hope those questions make sense.

Second Half
Flat enough restart.
52min Entire front row change. Heffernan and Bealham in. Ruddock replaced by Masterson.
54min YC for replacement Italian LH
58min Cooney in at SH.
62min Andrew Browne on for Billy Holland. Big Connacht presence now.
64min Try saving defence from Cooney.
65min Bench empty as Scanell and Nelson also on. Still scoreless in 2nd half.
72min YC Warwick
79min Try TOH. In the corner following multiple phazes. 25-0

Final Score 25-0

Am watching the stream .. some notes

Early mins. Irish Penalty? 3-0
12min Try Eoin Griffin 8-0
18min Yellow Card Italian LH [Collapsing Maul]
24min Try Andrew Conway – following cross field kick from JJ Hanrahan 13-0
25min Water Break
26min Try Stuart McCloskey – following break down the middle by JJ, Conv JJ 20-0
41min Almost a break out try from Matt Healy
H-T 20-0 Scoreline reflects dominance.

Good to see that there is such a strong Connacht pressence in the team but does anyone know what happened to McKeon?

Plenty of Connacht interest here .EMERGING IRELAND: Tiernan O'Halloran (Buccaneers/Connacht); Andrew Conway (Garryowen/Munster), Eoin Griffin (London Irish), Stuart McCloskey (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Matt Healy (Lansdowne/Connacht); JJ Hanrahan (UL Bohemians/Munster), Luke McGrath (UCD/Leinster); Denis Buckley (Corinthians/Connacht), Rob Herring (Ballynahinch/Ulster), Stephen Archer (Cork Constitution/Munster), Ben Marshall (Old Belvedere/Connacht), Billy Holland (Cork Constitution/Munster), Rhys Ruddock (St. Mary's College/Leinster) (capt), Dan Leavy (UCD/Leinster), Jack Conan (Old Belvedere/Leinster).

Replacements: Dave Heffernan (Buccaneers/Connacht), Andrew Warwick (Ballymena/Ulster), Finlay Bealham (Corinthians/Connacht), Andrew Browne (Galwegians/Connacht), Eoghan Masterson (Corinthians/Connacht), John Cooney (Terenure College/Connacht), Rory Scannell (Dolphin/Munster), Peter Nelson (Malone/Ulster).

Andrew Browne replaced Eoin McKeon in squad.

LIve streaming from Georgian TV here at 2 pm rugbyge.tulix.tv/

Congratulations to all the Connacht players selected. I wonder does Rodneys ommission mean he is still in contention for the senior squad same for KM?