O’Sullivan facing biggest challenge of coaching career

DESPITE the result, there was only one real winner at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on Saturday night. With just minutes remaining and clinging for dear life to a four-point lead, Ireland’s future in this tournament lay in the hands of an Argentinean.

Television match official Federico Cuesta had the task of deciding if another forward drive from the powerful Georgian pack had yielded a try that would have produced the biggest shock in World Cup history. The three minutes he took to decide must have been the longest of Eddie O’Sullivan’s life.

The only thing that separated Ireland from defeat in the end was the width of Denis Leamy’s chiselled torso. Somehow, the “Rock of Cashel” managed to get under replacement prop David Khinchagashvili’s drive for the line and avoid certain defeat. It was that close.