Reddan hails Irish work rate

By Grainne McGuinness and Shaun Cronin

Eoin Reddan expressed his pride in the commitment and focus of his team-mates after yesterday's victory over Georgia in the Aviva.

The Leinster scrum-half captained Ireland yesterday for the first time and, speaking in the post-match press conference, he said one moment in the game typified their work rate.

“The last 60 seconds of the first half probably summed up a lot of things we try and do,” he said. “We gave a penalty away in a killer situation, trying to score a try. They kicked out and we defended a line-out.

“Close to half-time, people might be thinking that half is over and we managed to steal a line-out, get back up the pitch, get a penalty and kick it so we’re more than a score ahead and one of their guys goes in the bin.”

He said it was a turning point in the game and one the Irish players deserved for their commitment.

“That probably was a key point in the game and it’s part of the attitude we try and play every second as it comes.”

“It was good from the lads not to drop the heads when we gave that penalty away when we could have scored and to get back in the game straightaway and not let it get to us.”

Reddan admitted it was a scrappy game particularly in the first-half.

“It was a bit stop-start, it wasn’t by any means the fastest,” he said. “It was tough physically. the forwards got through a lot of work, I think hats off to them.”

He echoed the thoughts of team-mate Dave Kilcoyne who said after the game: "If you look at Georgia and any of their games against Tier 1 nations they stick in there for 50-60 minutes and it's only at the end teams tend to break them."

“The first half in particular was just managing field position in one or two tricky situations and making sure we went to some of our strengths,” said Reddan.

“I think we knew if we stuck to the gameplan and stayed disciplined about how we approached the game our fitness might tell at some stage and I think it did in the end.”