Wales have overcome a determined Georgian side to secure a 43-14 win in their opening game of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Six tries from Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric, Josh Adams, Liam Williams, Tomos Williams and George North secured a bonus-point win in what was a tough game against a power Georgian outfit.
Wales started the game at a blistering pace and were ahead after just three minutes when Jonathan Davies bolted over the line after Gareth Davies sent him through a gap in the Georgian defence from a scrum.
Dan Biggar missed the extras from right under the posts in what was an uncharacteristic moment for the Northampton Saints man. He made up for his error five minutes later when he knocked over three-points from a penalty.
On 13 minutes they had their second try of the game as Adams and Gareth Davies linked well, breaking through the defence before Tipuric had a quick pick and go, and strolled under the posts. Biggar made it a 15-point lead.
As the first-quarter of the game came to a close Wales were further in front as Biggar handed Adams a lovely inside pass and in turn he tore through a gap to touchdown, with Biggar putting a further two points on the board.
Georgia then dominated the rest of the opening half before a late charge by Wales saw Williams secure the bonus-point with a try made by Gareth and Jonathan Davies. Biggar kicked brilliant kick from the left to make it 29-0 as the whistle blew.
The Georgians came flying-out of the blocks in the second-half and were rewarded as Shalva Mamukashvili crashed over for a try from a maul. Tedo Abzhandadze kicked the conversion to make it 29-7.
Georgia were reduced to 14-men when Jaba Bregvadze was sin-binned for collapsing a maul, but they played well during the 10-minute spell while he was out.
Wales were in for their first try of the second-half when North kicked ahead from the right-wing and replacement scrum-half Tomos Williams got to the ball first to touchdown.
The underdogs struck another blow with 10-minutes remaining as a quick-tap and go led to Levan Chilachava bursting over for the try and the extras were added to make it 36-14.
Tomos Williams repaid North with a try of his own on 75-minutes as the scrum-half jinked into the Georgian 22 before offloading in a tackle to North who got over the line. Leigh Halfpenny kicked the conversion from the right touchline to score the final points of Wales’ 43-14 win.
Wales will now look to push on from this win when they play Australia on Sunday in what could be the game that decides the winner of Pool D, while Georgia will hope they can impress once more when they take on Uruguay earlier in the day.
Wales Player Ratings:
Liam Williams (7); George North (8), Jonathan Davies (7), Hadleigh Parkes (7), Josh Adams (8), Dan Biggar (7), Gareth Davies (7); Wyn Jones (6), Ken Owens (7), Tomas Francis (6), Jake Ball (8), Alun Wyn Jones (7), Aaron Wainwright (6), Justin Tipuric (7), Josh Navidi (7)
Replacements (7)
