Wales produced a fluent first-half performance to see off Georgia 43-14 at the Rugby World Cup Monday and fire a warning to their rival contenders for the Webb Ellis Cup.
The men in red ran in four tries in the first 40 minutes to secure the bonus point in the Pool D clash but the spirited Georgians refused to lie down and scored two tries of their own in an entertaining second half.
Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric, Josh Adams, Liam Williams, Tomos Williams and George North touched down for Wales, while Shalva Mamukashvili and Levan Chilachava crossed the line for the Georgians.
Here’s a look at the key talking points in Toyota:
WALES GET GROOVE BACK
After a poor run of pre-tournament matches in which they were beaten by Ireland (2) and England, Gatland’s side looked to have rediscovered their rhythm for large parts of the game in Toyota.
The Dragons demonstrated some positive and fast back line play, slick passing, strong set piece (13 out of 13 line-outs and six out of seven scrums).
However, in the second half, Wales took their foot off the gas at times – particularly when emptying the bench – failing to take advantage of being a man up, and mixing lots of fluency with sloppy errors.
As they game became looser, some defensive frailties showed with Georgia able to find gaps and make yards with greater regularity in the second period.
Wales will also have to tighten up on their discipline. They conceded nine penalties to Georgia’s seven, and will be punished much more severely by Australia and Fiji later in the pool stage, if not addressed.
Still, as much as some fans may consider it a mixed display, a win is a win and it is a positive start to their World Cup ambitions.
GEORGIA DIG DEEP
Widely regarded as the best team outside of the top-tier Six Nations sides, many believe Georgia are at least as deserving as Italy to be included in the championship.
But even when Georgia faced the perpetual Six Nations whipping boys last November, they were blown off the park, which underlines the gulf in class between tier one and tier two teams at present.
Against Wales, they struggled for large parts of the contest, opting to play off their scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze or kick long, tactics that simply weren’t working in the first half.
Conceding tries from first phase playing is also a no-no in international rugby, and to do it twice inside the first 20 minutes effectively ended Georgia’s hope of making it a contest.
However, as the game wore on, they improved when bringing on fresh legs, their scrum strengthened, breakdown play was immense, and they made Wales work for possession and territory.
A reward for their tireless work was two tries.
If Georgian’s can play like they did in the second half for the full 80 minutes in the rest of their pool games, they can still target two wins at the World Cup.
