Saturday, 18 November 2017

Wales edge Georgia in dour clash

Wales bounced back from last week's loss to Australia by claiming a 13-6, if under-whelming, victory over Georgia at the Principality Stadium.

It wasn't pretty and the Welsh were never out of sight as the Lelos stayed in the match throughout, with Hallam Amos the only try scorer.

Rhys Priestland kicked eight points while in reply Soso Matiashvili slotted Georgia's six in a game they can leave with their heads high.

Wales were frustrated in the first half in Cardiff and were limited to just one try, coming through Amos in the 19th minute to lead 10-3.

Before that they'd set out their stall with quick taps from Rhys Webb showing they wanted to play at pace and not get dragged into a scrap.

Priestland nudged them in front on seven minutes when Georgia were penalised at a ruck and they thought they'd crossed the whitewash soon after, but wing Alex Cuthbert was held up over the line by scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze's brilliant try saving tackle.  It remained at 3-0.

Wales weren't to be denied though 10 minutes later when a lineout drive was moved wide by Webb before Priestland's wrap around created the space on the left wing for Amos, who finished easily.  Priestland slotted the difficult extras too to move Wales into a deserved 10-0 lead.

There was then a spell that arguably changed the game as Amos thought he had his second from long range but play was brought back for a rip in contact that saw the ball go forward.  That resulted in a scrum penalty for Georgia and Matiashvili kicked it for a fillip for the Lelos.

After the break the visitors further reduced the margin on 48 minutes when a scrum penalty saw Matiashvili make it 10-6 from 42 metres out.

But Priestland cancelled that out just after the hour mark as the Bath fly-half was informed by his captain to take the points, which was a clear shift in mindset from the early-game attacking.  Wales were now wary that they were struggling to put the rugged Georgians to bed.

In fact Georgia were sniffing a levelling seven-pointer on the 70 minute mark but thankfully for Wales their pack stood up at scrum time to repel the onslaught.  That and more spirited defence that led to replacement prop Tomas Francis being yellow carded on 79 minutes for side entry, ultimately ended with the hosts fending off the visitors' late short carries as Wales held on to avoid a shock defeat.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Amos
Con:  Priestland
Pens:  Priestland 2
Yellow Card:  Francis

For Georgia:
Pens:  Matiashvili 2

Wales:  15 Liam Williams, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Seb Davies, 7 Sam Cross, 6 Dan Lydiate (c), 5 Cory Hill, 4 Adam Beard, 3 Leon Brown, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements:  16 Elliot Dee, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Tomas Francis, 19 Josh Navidi, 20 Taulupe Faletau, 21 Aled Davies, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Owen Williams

Georgia:  15 Soso Matiashvili, 14 Giorgi Koshadze, 13 Davit Katcharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Mirian Modebadze, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 6 Lasha Lomidze, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili
Replacements:  16 Shalva Mamukashvili, 17 Kakha Asieshvili, 18 Soso Bekoshvili, 19 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Revaz Jintchvelashvili, 23 Merab Kvirikashvili

Referee:  Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees:  Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Sean Gallagher (Ireland)
TMO:  Leo Colgan (Ireland)

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