Wales produced an excellent first-half display as they got their campaign off to a solid start following a comfortable 43-14 triumph over Georgia in Toyota City.
Warren Gatland’s charges came out firing and touched down three times in the opening 20 minutes via Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric and Josh Adams before they wrapped up the bonus-point through Liam Williams.
The Georgians responded, however, and produced a much better effort in the second period. Although the game was lost, Shalva Mamukashvili went over to provide them with a semblance of hope.
Tomos Williams’ try extinguished their chances of coming back into the contest, but Levan Chilachava’s consolation score left Wales with a few questions going into their second encounter, despite George North’s late effort.
There were concerns going into the contest how the Welsh would react to the Rob Howley controversy, but they were outstanding in the first half.
Irrespective of their opponents inadequacies – and there were many – the defending Six Nations champions were slick and powerful, and were rewarded with three tries in the opening quarter.
The scrum is the Lelos’ primary weapon but that was comfortably negated by Gatland’s men, who touched down early on when a stable set-piece allowed Gareth Davies to feed namesake Jonathan to score under the posts.
"Easy as that!"
Jonathan Davies runs through to score Wales' first try of the World Cup 👏#WALvGEO #RWC2019 pic.twitter.com/nDS5GQw1a9
— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) September 23, 2019
Dan Biggar missed the conversion from in front but made up for that error by kicking a penalty and then finding scrum-half Davies, who broke through. With the Georgian defence in disarray, Tipuric spotted a gap around the ruck and duly crossed the whitewash for a 15-0 advantage.
Wales were rampant and another well-constructed lineout move saw Adams scythe through the heart of the Georgia rearguard. The wing still had work to do but he finished expertly as they opened up a comfortable buffer.
Milton Haig’s men had struggled but they put together their best move of the match to threaten the Welsh defence. Vasil Lobzhanidze, Shalva Mamukashvili and Giorgi Tkhilaishvili combined well before the blindside flanker’s pass was slapped down by Davies.
It appeared to be a clear deliberate knock-on from the half-back and would have resulted in a yellow card but referee Luke Pearce deemed the ball to go backwards.
That call was to prove costly for Georgia as Wales, still with 15 men, went through the phases and Williams was on hand to finish.
The game was over at that stage but the Lelos opened the second period well and crossed the whitewash via Mamukashvili after a maul charged towards the line.
Evidently frustrated by being sent into reverse, the Welsh looked to gain revenge by driving their opponents back. It led to a yellow card for Jaba Bregvadze but, to the Georgians’ credit, they held out and prevented Gatland’s men from adding to the scoreboard.
Only once Bregvadze returned did Wales touch down for the fifth time as North’s kick through was finished by replacement scrum-half Williams, but Haig’s outfit responded via Chilachava.
It was just reward for the Lelos’ performance after the break, but they could not end the match on top as North rubber-stamped a comfortable win for the 2019 Grand Slam winners.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: J Davies, Tipuric, Adams, L Williams, T Williams, North
Cons: Biggar 4, Halfpenny
Pen: Biggar
For Georgia:
Tries: Mamukashvili, Chilachava
Cons: Abzhandadze 2
Yellow Card: Bregvadze
Wales: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones (c), 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tom Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones
Replacements: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Nicky Smith, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Aaron Shingler, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Leigh Halfpenny
Georgia: 15 Soso Matiashvili, 14 Miriani Modebadze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Tamaz Mchedlidze, 11 Giorgi Kveseladze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili (c)
Replacements: 16 Jaba Bregvadze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Shalva Sutiashvili, 20 Beka Saginadze, 21 Otari Giorgadze, 22 Gela Aprasidze, 23 Lasha Khmaladze
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)
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