Georgia march to France

Win rewarding draw in Lisbon

Georgia and Portugal drew 11-all in Lisbon on Saturday in the last of Europe's World Cup qualifiers.

As Georgia won the first leg of this two-leg tie, they will be the ones going to France in 2007 for the Rugby World Cup.

All is not lost for Portugal as they now go into répechage and play Morocco for the right to play Uruguay.

Portugal had their moments in this match and actually achieved parity in possession but were intent on bashing up the middle when playing wider may have been wiser.  Their try came on the one occasion when they went wide.

Hooker Cristian Spachuk made the running down the right touch-line.  The ball came back wide to the left wing where centre Diogo Mateus scored.

The Georgian try was a soft one when Portuguese concentration lapsed near their own line, allowing veteran flank Grigol Labadze an easy run to the line.

Portugal missed three penalty kicks at goal.  There was no scoring at all in the second half.

Scorers:

For Portugal:
Try:  Mateus
Pens:  Malheiro 2

For Georgia:
Try:  Labadze
Pens:  Jimsheladze 2

Teams:

Georgia:  15 Teimuraz Sokhadze, 14 Irakli Machkhaneli, 13 Revaz Gigauri, 12 Irakli Giorgadze, 11 Besiki Khamashuridze, 10 Pavle Jimsheladze, 9 Irakli Abuseridze, 8 Besarion Udesiani, 7 Grigol Labadze, 6 Rati Urushadze, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 4 Ilia Zedginidze (captain), 3 David Zirakashvili, 2 Goderdzi Shvelidze, 1 David Khinchagashvili
Replacements:  16 George Kutarashvili, 17 Mamuka Magrakvelidze, 18 Levan Datunashvili, 19 Ilia Maisuradze, 20 Bidzina Samkharadze, 21 George Shkinin, 22 George Elizbarashvili

Portugal:  15 Pedro Leal, 14 Pedro Carvalho, 13 Miguel Portela, 12 Diogo Mateus, 11 António Aguilar, 10 Gonçalo Malheiro, 9 Luís Pissarra, 8 Vasco Uva (captain), 7 Paulo Murinello, 6 Diogo Coutinho, 5 Gonçalo Uva, 4 Marcello D'Orey, 3 João Correia, 2 Cristian Spachuk, 1 Joaquim Ferreira
Replacements:  16 Rui Cordeiro, 17 David Penalva, 18 Juan Severino, 19 João Uva, 20 José Pinto, 21 Cardoso Pinto, 22 Frederico Sousa

Referee:  Tim Hayes (Wales)