Wales have to work hard to get the better of Georgia

HARRI Houston scored two tries as Wales had to battle hard to see off a determined challenge from Georgia to go top of Pool B after securing back-to-back wins.

It was a feisty encounter in northern Italy as an early scuffle seemed to stir both sides and the hits flew in for the duration.

Wales scored the first try as Nathan Evans’ run drew the attention of two Georgia defenders, which kickstarted a great move utilising the overlap that ended with fly-half Dan Edwards going over.

While they were certainly physical against Italy, Georgia did not unleash the full potential of their rolling maul as they did today, and Wales had no answer to it in the first half.

Their first score was a classic of the lineoutdrive genre, with hooker Giorgi Maisuradze perfectly positioned to touch down at the rear.

Wales scored their second try before the half hour mark as Joe Hawkins sent the ball out to Edwards and the fly-half found Houston, who crossed untouched before Georgia took the lead before half time with two further maul tries.

It was No.8 Beka Shvangiradze’s turn just a couple of phases after a maul had taken them to within inches of the Wales line.

And the third Georgia try came from a lineout outside the 22 but the Georgian forwards pushed, peeled back around and pushed again until lock Giorgi Kervalishvili flopped over.

Georgia had the momentum, but flanker

Rati Zazadze was sent to the cooler for a dangerous clear out and fly-half Mathis Modebadze joined him after a cynical trip.

Wales’ skipper Joe Hawkins scored in the first minute of the second half to shift the momentum completely.

Wales still trailed by a point but after Josh Phillips kicked a penalty to put them ahead a short while later, they never looked like surrendering the lead from that moment onwards and Houston gave them breathing space midway through the half with his second score.

It was the second win in the competition for Byron Hayward’s team after their 45-15 triumph over Scotland and they face Italy on Wednesday in their final pool game.