Ireland barely withstood a late onslaught to scramble over the line against a dogged Georgia by 14-10 in Bordeaux on Saturday.
Despite fielding a second-string side, Georgia stayed with their lauded opponents all the way and never tired in the second half as they did in their 33-3 defeat to Argentina in midweek.
But for a lack of clinical finishing, they should have won.
Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan blasted his side after their dreadful 32-17 win over Namibia last Sunday, but incredibly he was happier this time round despite almost going down to the most embarrassing defeat in World Cup history.
"It wasn't quite the performance I had been looking for but it was better than last week," O'Sullivan said.
"We pushed too much and the Georgians raised their game. In the second-half we kicked poorly and they ran at us. We showed a lot of guts. They have been two nervewracking evenings. But I hope it stands us in good stead for next Friday [when they play hosts France at the Stade de France]," he said.
Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll was a bit more blunt about what he thought of their performance.
"It was a very tough game, and we didn't play wonderfully again. However, give credit to the Georgians they put us under a lot of pressure and once they had a sniff [off victory] they grew in confidence," O'Driscoll said.
"However, on the upside we showed some resolve and good defense. Whether we need to make changes to the line-up, well we will have to assess things," he said.
"But we need a considerably better performance against the French and it looks like we have to win the last two matches [they also have to play Argentina in the final group match on Sept. 30]. We always knew we would need good performances to get out of the group," O'Driscoll said.
Georgia captain Ilia Zedginidze regretted that they had not turned their dominance in the second half -- they had 70 percent of the ball -- into a significant amount of points, but was still a very proud skipper.
"It was pretty tough, but after the match against Argentina, my guys grew in confidence, and believed that they could rival countries placed higher than us in the world rankings [Ireland are sixth and Georgia 17th]," Zedginidze said. "I am really proud of my players."
O'Sullivan had told his team not to force the issue and Ireland were certainly more focussed, making fewer errors.
Georgia came out of the blocks firing and in the first few minutes they pinned Ireland down in their 22.
In yesterday's Pool B game, it was: Fiji 29, Canada 16.
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