Georgia slot late goal to silence Cardiff crowd
Georgia upset Wales 13-12 for the first time in rugby history yesterday in Cardiff, only the Lelos’ second win against a tier one nation.
The first was just in July, against Italy at home.
Georgia trailed 12-3 at halftime but rallied with a converted try while Wales were down a man. Replacement first five Luka Matkava then kicked a long-range penalty with two minutes left and the Lelos held on for a famous win less than 11 months before the teams meet again at the Rugby World Cup in Nantes, France.
Wales made six changes after beating Argentina last weekend, but it soon became apparent in the second half that a new spark was needed and the bench began to be cleared early. The spark never came, and Wales will end the year failing to win consecutive tests and Australia coming next weekend.
The Lelos were a serious pest on their only two previous visits to Cardiff, but halftime came as a relief. The forwards were flagging and Wales was running them off their feet.
However, Wales was wasting chances and managed in the first half only two quick tries finished by flanker Jac Morgan.
The first was a perfectly executed lineout move. Morgan ran the short
side, dummied two Georgians, and was clean through.
The second was Wales showing great support, key offloads by Dillon Lewis and George North, and Tomos Williams picking an unmarked Morgan on the right wing again.
Wales had the formula: Quick ruck ball, get the ball wide. But closing on halftime, two attacks were squandered when Louis Reeszammit and Tomos Williams kicked the ball away needlessly.
Georgia was transformed after the break, especially the scrum. The defence also gave Wales no space, the forwards held the ball longer, their confidence grew and Wales wilted.
The turning point was Alex Cuthbert’s yellow card for taking out opposite wing Sandro Todua.
Ireland survived a stern rugby challenge from a desperate Australia to prevail 13-10 at Lansdowne Road.
Irish captain Jonathan Sexton withdrew just moments before the match after straining a calf in the warmup but his five-eighth backups were outstanding.
Jack Crowley, who made his debut last week, started and played with the composure of a veteran. Importantly, he nailed both of his goalkicks.
He was replaced with eight minutes to go, and Ross Byrne showed a steely nerve when he stepped up and slotted the matchwinning penalty from the right-hand touch.
The Wallabies had a chance to win in the last moments. They put a kickable penalty into the corner for a lineout, but the maul was penalised when backs joined from the side. Then in the last seconds, they stole an Irish throw-in inside the 22 only to suffer a dropped pass which left them losing three straight times to the home side for the first time since 1968.
● Scotland overcame remarkable Argentina resistance in winning their thrilling year-ending rugby test 52-29 at Murrayfield .
Argentina were leading 8-7 when flanker Marcos Kremer was sent off with an hour remaining, and played with 12 men for a time in the third quarter.
Incredibly, with 12 on the field and defending a 5m scrum, the Pumas poached dropped ball and Emiliano Boffelli, playing on his club home ground, ended up scoring between the posts at the other end and converting his try.
The Pumas trailed only 24-22 with nearly half an hour to go but it was too long to hold out.
Scotland added four more tries and wing Darcy Graham got a hattrick in their highest score against the Pumas.
● A stunning second-half performance propelled South Africa to a 63-21 win over Italy and gave the Springboks the first win of their European tour.
There was little sign of what was to come following a fairly balanced first half but two quick-fire tries at the start of the second for Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-lee Arendse — his second of the match — helped the Springboks take control.
The Boks poured in seven of their nine tries after the interval as reserves Kwagga Smith, Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Cobus Reinach also dotted down, as did Damian Willemse.