Jimmy O’Brien wasn’t the only Leinster man to make his international debut over the weekend. On Sunday, tighthead prop Vakh Abdaladze earned his first cap for Georgia when coming off the bench in the 45th minute of a comfortable 34-18 win over Uruguay in Tbilisi.
Abdaladze was born in Georgia before moving to Ireland aged five. He represented Ireland at under-20 level and has made 21 appearances for Leinster since his debut in 2017.
It was a particularly poignant moment given Abdaladze’s father, Nikola, was a Georgian international backrow himself.
“He’s always been quiet and very reserved towards achievements,” explained Abdaladze in the build-up to his debut. “But my Mam let it leak to me that he shed a tear after I told him. Definitely a proud moment for the family.”
Such international recognition means Abdaladze is now non-Irish qualified (NIQ). The IRFU has a policy of limiting the amount of NIQs permitted across given positions among the provinces. Leinster already have a NIQ tighthead in Samoan international Ala’alatoa, but there is a precedent of multiple NIQs in the same position when Munster had both RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins in their set-up.
Abdaladze is under contract at Leinster until the end of the 2024 season, so any decision on his future can wait.
“There was definitely some thinking, just to see what it would mean to play for Georgia, how it would affect me,” explained Abdaladze. “Obviously I become a non-Irish qualified player, there were things to discuss around that.
“But the emotional side of your home country calling won over. I was grateful that Georgia called and more than happy to say yes. It was more a personal decision and [Leinster] coaches were more than happy for me to be getting this experience and be pushing on to international level.”
Abdaladze has family in Georgia still, but his parents in Dublin were not able to fly over to Tbilisi for his debut. With Georgia playing Wales on November 19th, plans are in place to travel to Cardiff and belatedly see their son in his home country’s colours.
Abby Dow’s wonder try
Abby Dow scored arguably one of the greatest tries in World Cup history on Saturday, her long-range effort helping England seal semi-final victory over Canada and a place in next weekend’s final.
With England staring into an upset defeat at the 50-minute mark, Dow got on the end of a stunning, length of the field score that turned the game on its head and ensured the favourites have a crack at hosts New Zealand in the decider.
Claudia MacDonald, playing on the opposite wing to Dow, started it all off when running with the ball from her own try-line. She beat four defenders with pace and footwork before flinging a long pass to Dow who had angled in off the opposite flank.
60 metres from the Canadian line, the Wasps wing had plenty to do but did have support on the outside from Ellie Kildunne. She didn’t need her, turning on the afterburners to sprint past one defender and hand off another before scoring in the corner.
Dow’s presence alone at this tournament deserves plaudits given she broke her leg as recently as March.
“For myself, in terms of my recovery journey, it [the try] made every second of groaning pain worth it.”
Australia end Ireland Sevens chances
The Ireland Men’s Sevens team returned to action for the first time since their World Cup bronze medal at this weekend’s World Series opener at Hong Kong.
Ireland started the sport’s most historic competition well, securing three wins out of three in the pool stages as Kenya, Canada and Argentina were all put to the sword.
In the quarter-finals, Ireland came up against the side they beat in September’s World Cup to secure third place, Australia. A Jordan Conroy try plus a double from Jack Kelly at one point had Ireland 19-5 up on their opponents, only for three Australian tries in the final two minutes to scupper their ambitions of progressing to the semi-finals.
Australia went on to win the tournament after beating Fiji in the final, while Ireland went down to the USA in the fifth-place play-off, ensuring a final standing of sixth.
Ireland were without last year’s World Series top try-scorer Terry Kennedy who is taking time away from the game. Chay Mullins is now in the Connacht set-up and was also absent, while Andrew Smith was playing for Clontarf in the All-Ireland league on Saturday. The latter two both travelled on the Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa.
In numbers
5 – How many times the lead changed hands in the second half of Argentina’s 29-30 victory over England on Sunday. As discipline became an issue for both sides, Emiliano Boffelli and Owen Farrell engaged in a dramatic shoot-out off the kicking tee. With both Michael Cheika and Felipe Contepomi on the coaching ticket, Argentina secured a first victory over England at Twickenham since 2006.
In Quotes
“I went through the set-plays in my head, visualised the list I had in my notebook. I came on, chatted to Garry [Ringrose], said ‘let’s do this’ and from there it flowed.” – Jimmy O’Brien offers an insight into the visual cues that helped him slot seamlessly into 13 when replacing the injured Stuart McCloskey just 26 minutes into Saturday night’s victory over South Africa.
