Francis helps Wales to Georgia win

By Mark Stevens
23/9/19

Exeter Chiefs prop Tomas Francis helped Six Nations champions Wales open their Rugby World Cup campaign with a bonus-point 43-14 victory over Georgia in Toyota City.

Victory for Warren Gatland's side not only sent out a signal of intent to main Pool D rivals Australia, who beat Fiji in their opener, but also dispelled any doubts there might have been of a hangover in the Welsh camp over the sending home of assistant coach Rob Howley amid allegations of illegal betting.

Four slick first-half tries from Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric, Josh Adams and Liam Williams ensured a bonus point for Wales, who were given a stern examination by a strong Georgian scrum that came to life in the second period.

The Georgians opened the second half exactly as coach Milton Haig would have liked, hooker Shalva Mamukashvili bundled over from an attacking line-out for a well-received try that Tedo Abzhandadze converted.

A raft of replacements disrupted the flow of the game, enabling Georgia to weather the 10-minute sin-binning of Jaba Bregvadze, but they fell further behind when Tomos Williams chased down a George North grubber for Wales’ fifth.

Toulon prop Levan Chilachava responded for Georgia when he bombed over from short range, but Wales had the last word when North finished well after some neat footwork and a sharp offload from Williams.

"It was a good first half, but got a bit messy in the second half; that ball was a bit slippy out there," said Gatland at the final whistle. "And we were conscious with the six-day turnaround (before playing Australia) and of getting some fresh legs on and looking after the players that had been on there as well.

"Georgia made it pretty hard for us in the second half and defended a lot better but overall [we are] pretty pleased and pretty happy with the bonus point."