Facile victory nevertheless worthwhile

Facile yes, but not entirely futile. If nothing else, caps, tries and win bonuses were accumulated with ease. Indeed, as win bonuses go, this must constitute the handiest little earner that Keith Wood will ever miss out on.

From the outset, Georgia had only damage limitation on their minds. Save for the odd pot at goal, all they could muster were a pretty solid scrum, a relatively secure line-out and the big right boot of Besik Tefnadze, who looked as if someone had accidentally stitched a "0" alongside the "1" on the back of his shirt.

This was all in stark contrast to the eclipsed 60-0 record win over Romania 12 years ago. After that game, the coach, Mick Doyle, observed: "One of the nice parts was the nil part". This time, as the saying goes, Georgia were lucky to get nil.

Nor were Ireland shouting from the rafters about scoring 70 points. "Pleased", was the description. Players emerged from a somewhat disappointed dressingroom and spoke primarily of their frustration.

Welsh official Robert Davies, who must go down in history as the only referee who should have penalised himself for collapsing a maul, had a thankless task. He remained fairly diligent in pinging Georgia over 20 times, and one sensed that only a feeling of embarrassment prevented him from doubling that figure.

The Georgian forwards, who apparently regard the laws of the game as optional, killed ball repeatedly, with the tackler staying put on top of man and ball. They were equally lax around the fringes with regard to the offside law, and, further out, were often so far beyond the gain line that the midfield ball carrier had no option other than to cutback.

One couldn't blame the Georgians one iota, but the groans intensified as Ireland popped or reversed passes to close-in target runners to set up yet another ruck at a gain of maybe a yard or two.

What's more, they're big bruisers, these Georgians, and the Irish players will have plenty of bruises from the tackles that did go in.

Coupled with initial rustiness, it made for a laborious opening half-hour. After two tries off close-in line-outs (long since the game's most boring ploy), the best Ireland could throw up from the category of "and now for something completely different" were attempts at two more, one of them with the 13-man Connacht variation.

More groans, and heads shook. Hark, was that the sound of knives being sharpened? All a bit premature really. Conor O'Shea lit the fuse with the help of Justin Bishop in a London Irish special for his first Irish try in 21 tests. And, ahem, with one bound Ireland were free.

It would be the first of eight tries under or close to the posts, a commentary on the facile nature of some of the scores. This allowed Eric Elwood to kick 10 out of 10 in what he himself knew was an otherwise less than perfect display.

In general, there were too many handling errors, but at least it indicated that Ireland were taking chances. The desire to keep the ball alive in the tackle was obvious, as was the attempt to interchange between forwards and backs.

It suited some better than others. Eric Miller looked what he is, a class act. Peter Clohessy, too, showed some impressive sleight of hand. As is their wont, Paddy Johns and Victor Costello were inclined to go to ground, but the latter's work-rate and yardage haul re-affirmed his status as Ireland's most dynamic ball-carrier.

Having Miller breathing down his neck is good for Victor - figuratively, whatever about literally. Georgia were not equipped to ask the pertinent questions about the balance of the back-row, or whether the new midfield combo will work in the long-term.

Nevertheless, Pat Duignan's adhesive hands served him well when first jumping to take an Elwood pass one-handed, and then taking a half-volley pick up at pace. His try off Elwood's eyecatching quick transfer underwrote a hint of potency in the position.

Comparisons with the opposition were pointless, but comparisons from within were intriguing. Granted, first caps don't get much easier than when your team is 420 up.

Even so, Gatland's gambling instincts and eye for a player - whether he's with Ballynahinch, as with Andy Ward last season, or playing out of position at provincial level, a la Girvan Dempsey, or even, in the case of Ciaran Scally, hardly at all - looked spot on again.

Dempsey, who will, one presumes, make a mistake one of these days, danced in deftly for his brace. Ciaran Scally was entitled to showboat with his try, but in fact the try was the least catching aspect of the young scrumhalf's cameo.

The 19-year-old has a physical presence and is not afraid to take things on. Furthermore, the ball was being moved out quicker and longer, with equal facility off left or right. Conor McGuinness is under pressure at last, which is no bad thing.

In the dressing-room, poor Philip Danaher was entitled to feel these likely young lads had had it too easy. In 28 appearances for Ireland he never scored a try.