Wales ease off the gas after first half blitz
WALES displayed devastating power to cruise to the bonus point by half-time before the humidity got the better of them at the City of Toyota Stadium on Monday.
Tries from Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric, Josh Adams and Liam Williams earned them a 29-0 lead at the interval.
However, their execution in the second half was not quite as sharp, nor their defence as scores from Tomos Williams and George North were cancelled out by tries from Georgia props Shalva Mamukashvili and Levan Chilachava.
“We ticked a lot of the boxes in the first half but we are a bit disappointed with the second half,” said captain Alun Wyn Jones, who won his 129th Wales cap to draw level with Gethin Jenkins on the all-time list.
“We allowed a couple of tries and we did not continue in a similar fashion to the first half and took our foot off the gas a bit. It’s a good result but there is plenty to work on.”
Warren Gatland’s side showed no signs of a hangover from the furore surrounding the return to Wales of attack coach Rob Howley for an alleged breach of betting rules.
A simple miss-pass allowed Davies to dot down under the posts, before a break from scrum-half Gareth Davies was finished off by Tipuric.
Wales pinned Georgia in their half for large parts of the first-half, capitalising on poor kicking out of hand and laboured pick and goes.
Wales scored a third inside 20 minutes, a fine solo effort from Adams after he was put through a big hole in the defence.
Wales secured the bonuspoint try just before half-time as they shifted the ball quickly out wide for Liam Williams to score.
After a first-half to forget, Georgia turned up the power producing two excellent driving mauls which eventually saw Mamukashvili dot down.
Tomos Williams chased down a kick to score Wales’ fifth try before Chilachava burrowed over after more powerful Georgian forward play. North finished the scoring with four minutes remaining.
Wales face Australia today and full-back Liam Williams, who played in the 9-6 victory when the sides last met in November 2018, said: “It’s good to get that first game out of the way against Georgia and get used to the conditions.
“I’ve played in a couple of games against Australia and it has always been nip and tuck. We’ve worked hard to get where we are and hopefully that’ll take us into the game.”