Scotland show collective spirit with handy win over Georgians
Brown captains Townsend’s side to comprehensive win at Murrayfield
Scotland 48 Georgia 7
WARM- UP games are meant to bubble up nicely without ever reaching boiling point, and on that reckoning this was a pretty successful outing for Scotland eight days before their Six Nations match in Wales. Three tries in the first half and five in the second, albeit against indifferent opposition, made for a comprehensive and confidence- boosting win.
The star was not any one individual but the Scots’ lineout, which produced five of those eight tries. Gregor Townsend’s team cannot expect such dividends against the Welsh, but the efficient functioning of such key areas of the game was a heartening sight all the same.
It took Scotland almost exactly two minutes to get their first score, as they recovered possession from an apparently knocked- on kick- off and exerted heavy pressure on the Georgian defence. Twice awarded penalties in the away 22, they ran both, and the second saw Darcy Graham hare his way to the line for a try which Adam Hastings converted.
The first scrum resulted in a penalty to the Scots too – something of a slap in the face for the Georgians given the emphasis they have traditionally put on the set piece. Hastings failed to found touch with the award, but it was a heartening start nonetheless to the team’s first outing since the win over France back in March.
Georgia recovered their composure after those setbacks and began to look dangerous, but Scotland’s cover defence was able to mop up a couple of sticky moments. As defence turned to attack midway through the first half, Chris Harris came within an ace of the second try, but just failed to gather a delicate chip ahead by his stand- off.
Another score was not long delayed, however, and came after 26 minutes. Hastings found touch after a blatant offside from prop Lekso Kaulashvili, and from the lineout first- time captain Fraser Brown was driven over the line by a well- timed surge. It was unconverted this time, but was another reassuring indication that Scotland were by and large getting the basics right.
That point was emphasised by try No. 3 five minutes later, finished off in the left corner by Hamish Watson but again largely engineered by
Brown from a lineout. The hooker’s drive was halted this time, but, with the Georgian defence on the back foot, his team- mates were able to open up and finish off.
The best that could be said about the visitors’ defensive work in that first half was that they dealt efficiently with the potent threat of Duhan van der Merwe.
But if shutting down Van der Merwe is at times half the battle when it comes to subduing Edinburgh in a PRO14 game, it was never going to be enough for the Georgians against a side that presented a multi- faceted attacking threat. In the final moments before the break Graham was just denied a second try when Aleksandre Todua beat him to a chip, and then substitute Cornell du Preez was awarded a closerange score by an on- field decision which was then chalked off by the TMO. Du Preez had come on after an injury ended Matt Fagerson’s evening, and – those two missed chances notwithstanding – the early departure of the Warriors No. 8 was the only notable downside of the half.
By contrast, the second half began poorly as a couple of fumbles led to Scotland conceding a try. It was a dubious score, as the key pass looked forward, but winger Akaki Tabutsadze nonetheless finished off well. Tedo Abzhandadze added the two points, and suddenly it seemed that Scotland had a game on their hands.
But they hit back swiftly. Alert defence denied them a try when the ball went loose over the goal line, but they had advantage. Hastings kicked to touch, and Brown once again finished off from the lineout drive.
Oli Kebble then came off the bench for his debut, Stuart McInally replaced Fraser Brown, and Finn Russell appeared for his 50th cap - his first appearance since falling out with Townsend before the Six Nations. Russell actually replaced centre James Lang, but took up his usual position of 10, with Hastings moving out.
Scotland continued to turn down kicks at goal that either Russell or Hastings would easily have converted, and profited from their adventure when McInally scored from
another lineout move. Hastings converted this time, and added another two points when Van der Merwe got the try his efforts deserved after coming infield to pick up a cute reverse pass from Russell.
Georgia ended the game with 14 men after Gela Aprasidze was binned for ending a Ben Toolis break with a deliberate knock- on. Scotland ended it with two more tries: a second for Graham - set up by, what else?, a lineout - then a fine solo effort by Blair Kinghorn. Hastings converted the latter, leaving his team just shy of the half- century.