KINGS OF GEORGIA
Confident Scots run the show in Tbilisi
FOR all that the Georgian players spent time training with their country’s equivalent of the SAS, they had no answer to Scotland’s Action Men.
Against opposition who had gone Full Metal Jacket in their preparations for this match, it was the Scots’ dynamic duo of Finn Russell and Rory Hutchinson who provided the ammunition.
Two tries from Hutchinson fired them to victory in the sticky heat of Tbilisi’s Dinamo Arena, a fine way for the Northampton centre to mark his first Test start.
The contribution of Russell, meanwhile, only served to reaffirm the theory that, when he’s on form, there is no finer fly-half in the northern hemisphere.
In the first half, in particular, he led the Georgians a merry dance with a performance which saw him create his team’s opening two tries.
He then notched a third assist in the second half and the only surprise was the fact he played 65 minutes before finally leaving the field to be wrapped in cotton wool.
The victory will be a confidence boost for coach Gregor Townsend and his players, given their troubles away from BT Murrayfield. Prior to last night, their last triumph away from home had come 14 months ago against Argentina in Resistencia.
It was a long time between drinks, but they deserved victory in the Georgian capital in their penultimate World Cup warm-up match.
The fact that rugby is now the No 1 sport in Georgia was demonstrated by the fact the hosts were roared on by a raucous crowd.
At the same stadium where the Scottish football team had come unstuck in their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign, there never felt like any chance of another upset.
Even as the first tier-one nation to play in Georgia, there was no danger of the red carpet being rolled out for the visitors. This meant the world to the hosts but they were outclassed and will have revenge on their minds when the teams meet again in Edinburgh on Friday.
Prior to that, though, comes the final squad announcement on Tuesday — and it’s safe to say Hutchinson has done himself no harm with his efforts last night. A special mention must also go to the Scottish pack for the way in which they worked tirelessly and stood up to their opponents’ physicality.
Given their habit of shipping early tries in games over the past year or so, it was imperative that Scotland made a quick start and they did so emphatically. A couple of penalties from Greig Laidlaw settled any nerves and asserted their authority on the scoreboard, before they began to turn on the style on 14 minutes.
The opening try was a thing of beauty; a blur of quick hands and even quicker feet. Typically, it was Russell who was the architect.
From his sublime dummy and jink through a gap in the home defence, he popped the ball off to Matt Fagerson, who then found Laidlaw.
To cap a flowing move, Laidlaw converted the try after making the final pass which allowed Ben Toolis to dive over.
After all the pre-match hype, it felt like the occasion was perhaps too much for Georgia. They were causing their own downfall through indiscipline and inaccuracy.
Russell created his team’s second try after only 20 minutes. From his pass, Hutchinson stepped back inside past three defenders, with Laidlaw again adding the extras.
Wonderful footwork to deceive the opposition; it was a finish which would once have been befitting of Huw Jones, a rival of Hutchinson’s for a place among the centres.
If, as expected, Townsend takes four midfielders to Japan, then he now has a dilemma on his hands.
There is an argument to suggest that Hutchinson, Sam Johnson, Duncan Taylor and Chris Harris are all ahead of Jones, who lost his place at Glasgow Warriors’ last season through injury and lack of form.
Scotland were averaging a point a minute, 20-0 up after the opening quarter of the match and the hosts got on the scoreboard just after the half-hour mark from a penalty taken by full-back Soso Matiashvili, but Laidlaw cancelled that out with one of his own right on half-time.
Leading 23-3 at the break, Scotland’s lead would have tempted Townsend to ring the changes and protect certain players. He resisted that, though, and the reward was to be a further extension of his team’s lead in the 47th minute. After solid work at the scrum, Russell and Blair Kinghorn combined to feed Hutchinson and he powered over, with Laidlaw converting.
Georgia’s only try came on 58 minutes, with prop Karlen Asieshvili rumbling over. But the
Scots’ reply was to put their opponents to the sword once again.
Russell’s grubber-kick yielded a third assist and a try for Darcy Graham, which Russell converted, with Scott Cummings later going over for his first try for his country and Scotland’s fifth of the night.