Ireland vs. Georgia: Score and Report from Autumn Rugby International

Ireland hammered Georgia, 49-7, at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday to keep up their winning record in this year's autumn international series.    

Joe Schmidt chose to ring the changes in his squad following last Saturday's triumph over South Africa, and it required a much-improved second-half display to clinch the wide victory, confirmed by Rugby World:

Georgia weren't being tipped as the strongest of underdogs coming into this clash, but the Eurasian visitors did their best of playing to their strengths in defence.

Physicality is the one area in which Georgia tend to stick out, and after relegating the Irish to just three Ian Madigan penalties at the half-time break, they could be content with their performance.

Peter Morrison/Associated Press

However, some strong words from Schmidt at the break may have did their part in lighting a fire under the hosts, who swiftly got matters back on track after resuming play.

It took Dave Kilcoyne just a couple of minutes in the second period to cross over for the game's first, as shown by RTE Rugby:

From there, the home outfit began to grind out a more gradual grip on the fixture, and Georgia were visibly tiring as Milton Haig started to utilise his bench heavily coming into the last quarter of the game.

It was here that Ireland launched their assault, however, as they soared in for four tries in the final 20 minutes, 26 of their 49 points coming in that period.

Peter Morrison/Associated Press

The gulf in quality was particularly telling throughout the back line. It was no surprise that full-back Felix Jones was able to grab a brace, wing Simon Zebo adding another and his replacement Stuart Olding clinching their last try seven minutes from time.

Madigan did his part from the tee, converting five of the six tries registered by Schmidt's men, who ended the fixture as the far more dominant of the two, per the Ultimate Rugby app:

Lock Georgi Nemsadze was Georgia's only try scorer, managing to find space as Ireland had a lapse in concentration on the 56th minute, a fault that Schmidt will undoubtedly expect his team to cut out moving ahead.

However, for a second-string side, this was still a superbly confident display from the Irish. The Rugby Blog's Alex Shaw noted how essential that depth will be at next year's Rugby World Cup:

And for their troubles, Ireland also see a move up the IRB rankings, according to Simon Thomas of Wales Online:

Ireland's premier stars will have enjoyed a much-needed rest after two extremely physical encounters in successive weeks, with Australia promising to bring a different kind of threat to Dublin's shores next Saturday.

Georgia, meanwhile, head back to Tbilisi, where they can prepare for the upcoming clash against Japan, a fixture they'll be hoping can bear more fruit than this outing.