Hutchinson stakes claim with classy try-double

RORY Hutchinson swept over for his first Test tries to throw down his challenge for a place to Japan as Scotland celebrated a commanding victory on a historial night in Tbilisi.

The young Northampton wing finished off a couple of fine moves on just his third appearance – and first start – as Gregor Townsend’s outfit overwhelmed their rivals with five tries.

Scotland were the first Tier 1 country to play at the home of Georgian rugby, and made the most of the occasion to ramp up a notch their preparations for the forthcoming World Cup following mixed results against France.

They were far too strong and skilful for their opponents at the Dinamo Arena, with Georgia now facing the tough ask of travelling to Edinburgh for the return clash next weekend.

As expected, the powerful Georgian scrum held up well but they were badly lacking quality along the back line to build attacks.

The visitors cruised into a 23-3 lead courtesy of two finely created tries for Ben Toolis and Hutchinson. The first came when fly-half Tedo Abzhandadze had his kick charged down. Finn Russell moved the ball towards the line and Matt Fagerson and Greig Laidlaw laid it on a plate for Toolis to finish off.

Then came Hutchinson’s shining moment to celebrate his opening Scotland try, as the Saints man charged over the line after fine work from Darcy Graham scampering forward and leaving the Georgian defence struggling under the pressure.

With Laidlaw’s boot working like clockwork, the scoreboard maintained a healthy rate and the visitors became more and more adventurous with their attacking as they piled on the misery for their inferior opponents.

All the hosts could muster in a one-sided first half was a Soso Matiashvili penalty.

Hutchinson rounded off another fine move just seven minutes into the second half with the home defence stretched to breaking point and the Scotland centre crossed without any problem.

The two sides had clashed just twice before – Scotland won 43-16 during the 2016 Autumn Internationals and 15-6 in the 2011 World Cup – and the gulf in class became greater as the match wore on.

Georgia replacement Karlen Asieshvili managed to crash his way over when the home scrum applied some muscle and Abzhandadze converted, but joy was short lived as the visitors reacted positively.

The alert Darcy Graham raced onto a perfect kick through from the impressive Russell who controlled and ran the show for most of the evening. Flanker Scott Cummings surged over two minutes after to complete the rout.