Humiliation as Georgia put Scotland to the sword

SCOTLAND ended a miserable campaign with a thumping eight-try defeat to an impressive Georgia outfit.

Christian Townsend gave Scotland an early lead after a lovely chip over the top, which was doubled soon after by Andy Stirrat’s chargedown try.

But Georgia went on a rampage and secured the bonus point by half-time as Rati Zazadze, Beka Shvangiradze, Alexandre Kuntelia and Shalva Aptsiauri all breached the Scottish defence.

Another try for Zazadze and a Petre Khutsishvili penalty took the lead to 24 points, and though Duncan Munn reduced the deficit, Shvangiradze snatched a double of his own to end any hopes of a Scottish fightback.

The humiliation was complete as Georgia crossed twice more into the last ten minutes, as Paata Galdava and Nikoloz Babunashvili drove over from a maul.

To lose by such a wide margin to a second-tier nation will be of huge concern to coach Kenny Murray and Jim Mallinder, the man tasked with rebuilding the structures of Scottish rugby as its director of performance.

It started so brightly for Scotland, with Townsend’s quick thinking to chip and chase and Stirrat’s determination to chargedown and finish just short of the deadball line giving them a solid buffer at 12-0 after fifteen minutes.

Whilst it would be unfair to say that Georgia merely exhibited power in attack throughout, it was this aspect that wrestled them back in charge, with Zazadze and Shvangiradze’s first tries both coming from powerful driving mauls to bring Georgia level.

The next try was perhaps the most calamitous for Scotland, Georgia winning a scrum against the head, with Kuntelia then driving over from close range, before Aptsiauri became the first Georgian back to score as he darted over with the bonus point try on half-time.

It continued after the break, with the showboating Shvangiradze chipping into his own hands before two offloads saw Zazadze over for a second.

And though Scotland produced dynamic phase play to give themselves hope through Munn, the hope lasted barely two minutes as Aptsiauri produced a magnificent offload to give Shvangiradze his second.

The two maul tries from Galdava and Babunashvili that followed completed the rout, taking the Georgian tally to eight tries and 50 points.