Skipper Craig Casey, Sam Prendergast and Tommy Brien sparkled in the rain in Tbilisi as Ireland defeated Georgia 34-5. Ryan Baird, Nick Timony and, something that will warm Munster hearts, Gavin Coombes, were outstanding in the pack. Thomas Clarkson gets special mention for his work at tighthead against one of the world's best scrummaging teams, Jacob Stockdale looked in form before being injured while Calvin Nash was excellent from the bench. Tommy O'Brien's was a dream debut, scoring twice in the opening eight minutes helping Ireland race into a 14-0 lead. The Paul O'Connell-coached side evaded a potential problem when following Georgia's Tornike Jalagonia crossing at the end of the first-half, Craig Casey replied in kind a minute after the start. Prendergast, who would end with six-from-six with the tee, added two further penalties before a Timony try some 10 minutes from time completed the scoring. The unlucky Stockdale injured his shoulder in a late first-half collision, left the field in pain and with his left arm in a sling. He has been sent for scans with the results expected to be released later today. The winger's last Ireland appearance, against Fiji last November, also resulted in his having to leave the field with an injury, damaging his hamstring in the 50th minute. It was a regressive day's outing for Georgia, by the way, their chances of joining the Six Nations might not recover for a decade, if they ever recover. Richard Cockerill has overseen the Lelos surge to 11th in the world rankings and they are ahead of Wales and a place behind Italy. A win over Ireland would have been a thing. But despite having a full squad comprising Top14/ProD2/Black Lion players and Ireland missing 18 of their frontline 23 they came up miles short. Essentially O'Connell had Craig Casey, Ryan Baird, Jack Crowley, Jamie Osborne and Jack Boyle on the bus before rounding up another 18 players on the way to a game over 5,250km away and beating them comprehensively. Wales are a home Union, Italy have Rome as a destination venue and they ran the world champion Springboks 42-24 on the same day in Jo'berg. "It's a very important game. We've a load of guys who are just dying for an opportunity," said O'Connell of Ireland on RugbyPass TV: "You wonder how they will take that opportunity, particularly when some of them hadn't played games in a little while. I'm very happy with how they were going about their business. "There was a load of intent to what they did and they were really accurate with that intent." Casey had secured a win in his first game as Ireland captain and told RugbyPass TV: "We're very happy. It's a bit wetter than we expected. "We had to adapt our game a bit and I thought we managed it fairly well. Our forwards were top class so we owe a lot to them and the feeling in the group is awesome. "It's a great start to the summer tour with a few lads winning their first caps. We wanted to make it special for them and their families. Thankfully we were able to do that so it's a nice one." There was little but for a disconsolate Cockerill to admit his side were simply second best in almost every department: "Ireland were very good and congratulations to them. They played very, very well. "Our boys stuck to it and we played well. We had opportunities that we didn't take, but Ireland were too good for us and it's a good lesson for us. "We'll regroup and we're off to South Africa tomorrow so we'll have to improve for next week." IRELAND SUMMER TOUR SCHEDULE Saturday, 5th July: Georgia 5 - 34 Ireland (T O'Brien 2, Casey, Prendergast tries, Prendergast 4 cons, 2 pens), Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi Saturday, 12th July: Portugal v Ireland, Estádio Nacional do Jamor, Lisbon (kick off 7pm local, same Irish time) Ireland Men’s Squad – Summer Tour 2025 Player/Club/Province/Caps - *denotes uncapped before tour Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.