Job done as Wales open with six-try victory
WALES 43 GEORGIA 14 A SOLID START FOR GATLAND’S MEN... BUT THERE COULD BE BAD NEWS ON THE HORIZON FOR INJURED STAR HILL BIG-MATCH REACTION
WALES opened their World Cup campaign with a 43-14 bonus point victory over Georgia at the Toyota Stadium. Rugby correspondent Simon Thomas analyses the key issues and talking points to emerge from the Pool D clash.
FLAT-PASS BULLIES
During Wales’ warm-up programme, one of the main criticisms had surrounded the blunt nature of their attack.
The question was could they find more of a cutting edge come the main event?
Well, they took just 128 seconds to provide the answer.
That’s how long it took them to claim their first try against Georgia and there were two more to come inside the opening quarter, while the four-try bonus was in the bag before half-time.
So what was the key to the attacking success?
Well, in cricket, they talk about flat-track bullies in terms of batsmen filling their boots on flat pitches.
In this instance, it was a case of Wales being flat-pass bullies.
Their first three tries all came from the same source - flat passes from scrum-half Gareth Davies off set-piece ball.
They had clearly identified that as a tactic that could unpick the Georgian defence and it worked a treat. It meant they were immediately on the gainline from Davies’ pass, with the opposition unable to regroup once that gainline was crossed.
On the basis that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, Wales kept on doing it in the first-half and it kept on working.
Importantly, it meant they didn’t have to show their full attacking hand ahead of next Sunday’s crucial meeting with Australia.
One move was enough to see off the Georgians.
The tone was set after just 2 minutes, 8 seconds.
From an attacking scrum, Josh Navidi picked up at No 8 and fed Garteh Davies who sent a flat pass out to Jonathan Davies, putting the centre into a gaping hole between two maroon jerseys and over the whitewash.
Then the next two tries were absolute carbon copies of each other.
Both came from lineout ball off the top, firstly via Alun Wyn Jones and then official Man of the Match Jake
Ball. Both involved flat passes from Davies to Dan Biggar and an inside pass from Biggar to Josh Adams.
Each time, it saw Adams split the defence with the Georgian tail gunners too slow coming across field off the back of the lineout.
On the first occasion, winger Adams found support from Gareth Davies, with Justin Tipuric delivering the finish, and the second time Adams went all the way himself.
And just before the break, there was another try off lineout ball and a flat pass, with a Hadleigh Parkes carry, a Ken Owen wraparound in midfield, a Jonathan Davies surge and a Liam Williams touchdown as he took possession on the bounce.
It was a fine score to round off an impressive first half, when Wales produced that cutting edge everyone had been crying out for without giving everything away.
Then after the break came a couple more tries, through impressive sub Tomos Williams and George North, with the excellent Tipuric a key figure in the build-up.
So six in all. Now let’s see what they have left up their attacking sleeve
for the Wallabies.
SET PIECE PLATFORM
Along with the attack, the other area that had been a particular concern going into the World Cup was Wales’ scrum. It had creaked badly during the first three warm-up games and now they were coming up against a team who really pride themselves on their scrummaging.
So it was a significant test. How did they get on? Well it was a mixed bag.
In his pre-match interview, Warren Gatland said Wales had been putting in a lot of hard work at scrum-time this past week and that came through in the early exchanges.
At the first two scrums - the first of which provided the platform for the opening try - they got the ball back quickly and away off a steady base.
The solidity of those initial scrums gave them confidence and at the third one they kept the ball in and went for the second shove, driving the Georgians back and winning a penalty.
It was a big moment after what they have been through this summer.
However, there are still issues to address because the scrum failings resurfaced as the game wore on. They creaked and conceded a couple of penalties as things became messy, with both of Georgia’s tries following Welsh scrum offences, so it’s still very much a work in progress.
As for the lineout, that was a real strength during the warm-up programme and it carried on in that vein.
They were effective and efficient on their own throw, with three of their four first-half tries coming off perfectly delivered ball off the top. There were also two steals from the big paw of Alun Wyn Jones, while the driving maul off the lineout proved a strength after the break, almost delivering a try and drawing a yellow card offence from the Georgians with Jaba Bregvade binned for pulling it down. RUCKING ISSUES While Wales were impressive off first phase, they encountered a few problems in terms of building sustained phase play, with the Georgians competing hard at the breakdown.
The Lelos like to turn the game into a physical arm wrestle and they did this pretty effectively with some of their counter-rucking. That slowed down and disrupted Welsh ball while, on occasions, it actually led to turnovers. It contributed significantly to the balance of power shifting after the break.
Wales played into the Georgians’ hands at times, by keeping it tight
Wales: L Williams (Halfpenny, 60); North, J Davies, Parkes, Adams; Biggar (Patchell, 67), G Davies (T Williams, 48); Wyn Jones (Smith, 56), Owens (Dee, 56), Francis (Lewis, 47), Ball (Shingler, 62), Alun Wyn Jones (capt), Wainwright (Moriarty, 51), Tipuric, Navidi.
Georgia: Matiashvili; Modebadze, Kacharava, Mchedlidze, Kveseladze; Abzhandadze, Lobzhanidze; Nariashvili (capt; Gogichashvili, 47), Mamukashvili (Saginadze 58), Gigashvili (Chilachava, 47), Nemsadze, Mikautadze (Sutiashvili, 51), Tkhilaishvili (Mamukashvili, 55), M Gorgodze (Giorgadze, 60), B Gorgodze.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
with first-up runners around the fringes, rather than looking for room wider out.
They ended up running into a maroon-clad welcoming committee, with carriers becoming isolated and stripped. With Aussie breakdown king David Pocock waiting in the wings next Sunday, Wales will need to be more efficient in their work in this area in terms of their clearing out and recycling.
TIP-TOP TIPURIC
Justin Tipuric has had to wait a long time in his fine career to be Wales’ regular first-choice openside. But now he’s there on the biggest stage of all and didn’t he shine.
We all now about his footballing ability and it was great to see him producing that in front of a global audience, while he was just everywhere and into everything. The guy was just pure class. He swooped for Wales’ second try, arriving in support as Gareth Davies was hauled down, picking up at the ruck and showing great feet to step inside blindside Giorgi Tkhilaishvili and scamper over.
Then for their fifth try, he demonstrated his quality in wide channels, as he took the ball in the outside centre position, straightening and drawing his man to release George North, whose kick infield enabled Tomos Williams to touch down. And, with the final score, his tackle forced a knock on, with Williams this time turning creator ahead of North forcing his way over.
TRIES AND PENALTIES CONCEDED
Defence coach Shaun Edwards won’t be too pleased at his team conceding a couple of tries, which led to the second-half score being 14-14.
Both were close-range efforts from the Georgians whose forward muscle and raw power came more into the game, one of the tries coming off a lineout drive off a collapsed scrum penalty and the other off a quick tap after the Welsh scrum had been splintered.
The Wallabies will certainly take note and there will surely be plenty of defensive dissecting to be done, while discipline also became an issue for Wales as ten penalties were conceded in all.