EMERGING IRELAND HEAD coach Allen Clarke was left with mixed feelings after victory in the Tbilisi Cup.
The Ulster forwards coach was left ‘satisfied’ after his charges claimed three convincing wins, including yesterday’s 12 – 45 win over hosts Georgia.
Just as was the case in the 25 – 0 and 33 – 7 wins over Italy and Uruguay though, the shadow international squad was left a touch flatted by the scoreline as performances wavered from sublime to stuttering within 80-minute windows.
“A little bit frustrated at times with some of our play,” Clarke said post-match, We probably put together three good halves in three games.
“I think tonight especially, in the second half we looked sublime when we played with pace and precision. That’s part of the learning for the players. Sometimes as coaches we can complicate things too much, but if we get the basics right…
“They’re a talented group of young players and all credit to them. They’ve developed and won the tournament.
“We’re much younger than the Georgians. I thought we stood up well. We were the ones on our feet and being big in the game.
“That took it out of Georgia. We knew if we could live with their physicality we’d back our fitness and skill-sets.”
