Scotland 15 Georgia 6:MOST OF the attention in Pool B has been on England and Argentina but Scotland are making encouraging strides along the high road to the last eight. It takes a decent team these days to subdue Georgia's big pack and the Scots can derive much satisfaction from the defensive commitment.
It may be Georgia will field a different-looking XV for their game against England on Sunday but there is no mistaking the Lelos’ physicality. Neither was there any disguising Scotland’s heightened resolve following their close call against Romania, nor the sterling efforts of their front five.
Dan Parks missed three attempts but did land four penalties and a drop goal to cap an influential all-round effort. A wet night in Invercargill tends to sort out the shepherds from the goatherds and Parks will not care neither side looked in much danger of scoring a try. His coach, Andy Robinson was of similar mind. “We scored four tries against Romania and got criticised. No, I’m not bothered we didn’t score one,” Robinson said. “Some days you’ve got to play this way and you’ve got to win ugly. We dominated the scrummage and we stopped Georgia mauling. Those tactics will be important when we play Argentina and England.”
Georgia, guided by Scotland’s former coach Richie Dixon, started strongly but undermined their chances by conceding penalties. He said: “Some were a result of over-enthusiasm rather than deliberation. We let Scotland off the hook at times.”
The good news for Georgia is the gap between tiers one and two continues to close. Their much-vaunted scrum did not make the inroads they had hoped but neutrals would have struggled to tell the world’s seventh-ranked nation from the supposed also-rans in the first quarter. Once the Lelos got the ball, which luckily for the Scots was irregularly, there was scant chance of prising it off them until referee George Clancy spotted his next frustrating misdemeanour.
When the outhalf Merab Kvirikashvili slotted a fine penalty from inside his own half the alarm bells really began to sound, only for Clancy to take an increasing hand. In awarding nine first-half penalties against the Georgians he gave Scotland much-needed breathing space and offered Parks the opportunity to shape the game rather more to Caledonian specifications.
Parks kicked two first-half penalties plus a well-taken drop goal and the accuracy of his kicking from hand helped to keep Georgia at arm’s length. The Scottish forwards also stuck to their task, with both secondrows enjoying conspicuous evenings and Kelly Brown and Alasdair Strokosch getting through a mountain of work.
There was a notable display for Euan Murray, the Lions tighthead, who appears to be recapturing his best form. Unfortunately for Robinson, their next game against Argentina is on a Sunday, when Murray declines to play for religious reasons. “The decision is down to him whether he plays against Argentina,” Robinson said. “I’m not expecting him to.”
By the time David Kubriashvili replaced Davit Zirakashvili and Malkhaz Urjukashvili joined the fray, Andy’s tartan army were on the march. If they can work out what their best team is and show a more attacking spark, this pool could become very interesting.
SCOTLAND: R Lamont; M Evans, De Luca, Morrison, S Lamont; Parks, R Lawson (capt); Jacobsen, Ford, Murray, Hines, Hamilton, Strokosch, Rennie, Brown. Replacements: Paterson for Lamont, Gray for Hines (both 71 mins).
GEORGIA: Gigauri; Machkhaneli, Kacharava, Zibzibadze, Todua; Kvirikashvili, Abuseridze (capt); Khinchagishvili, Bregvadze, Zirakashvili, Datunashvili, Maisuradze, Sutiashvili, Gorgodze, Basilaia. Replacements: Kubriashvili for Zirakashvili, Kolelishvili for Basilaia (both 56 mins), Giorgadze for Bregvadze, Giorgadze for Bregvadze (both 65 mins), Urjukashvili for Todua (67 mins).
Referee: G Clancy (Ire).
