PAUL O’CONNELL claims his Ireland cubs want to be kings of the jungle while the Lions are away.
O’Connell watched debutant Tommy O’Brien grab a brace of tries to help the men in green to a four-tries-to-one win over Georgia in Tbilisi.
The former international takes interim charge of Ireland for their summer series — with Portugal to come in Lisbon on Saturday — as head coach Andy Farrell and 16 stars are Down Under for the tour of Australia.
Munster and Ireland legend O’Connell, 45, said: “It’s a very important game, a lot of players away with the Lions.
“We’ve had a load of guys dying for an opportunity and you wonder how they will take that opportunity.
“I’m very happy with how they went about their business, they had a load of intent and they were really accurate.”
Minus a plethora of players — including injured duo Caelan Doris and Robbie Henshaw — Ireland showed their strength in depth with an assured display on a rain-soaked pitch.
O’Brien raced over twice inside the opening exchanges before Craig Casey marked his captaincy debut with a fine try at the start of the second period.
Nick Timoney wrapped up the scoring late on, while Sam Prendergast was faultless off the tee and kicked 14 points.
Former Ireland Under-20 captain O’Brien only needed two minutes to get off the mark as he latched on to Prendergast’s kick and touched down next to the posts.
Leinster fly-half Prendergast’s successful conversion was swiftly followed by a second score for Ireland in the eighth minute.
It was the same combination again as the No 10 sent the ball over the top and club team-mate O’Brien crossed over in the right corner.
After Prendergast added the extras to make it 14-0, Georgia mounted a response, with boos following the TMO decision to disallow Aka Tabutsadze’s superb solo effort.
The TMO was required again to rule out a try by Prendergast before Ireland ended the half on a sour note.
Jacob Stockdale was forced off with an arm injury before Georgia deservedly got on the scoreboard.
With the clock in the red, the hosts broke through in the corner through Tornike Jalagonia.
It was a poor end to a professional half, but interim Ireland skipper Casey stepped up after the break.
The Munster star stormed over inside 60 seconds after he combined with Ryan Baird.
Another Prendergast conversion was followed by two penalties as Ireland established a 22-point advantage by the midway point of the second half.
POC then shuffled his pack with Tom Ahern and Jack Aungier sent on for debuts.
It was followed by a fourth try as Timoney collected a bouncing kick to bundle over despite the presence of two Georgian players, a score that survived a TMO check.
Georgia head coach Richard Cockerill added: “We had opportunities that we didn’t take, but Ireland were too good.”
GEORGIA 5
IRELAND 35
SCORERS — Georgia: Try, Jalagonia. Ireland: Tries, O’Brien 2, Casey, Timoney; cons, Prendergast 4; pens, Prendergast
