Francis relishing Aussie showdown
By Luke Broadley
25/9/19
Tomas Francis and Wales are looking ahead to Sunday’s crunch Rugby World Cup clash with Australia after downing Georgia in impressive fashion in Toyota.
Francis’s start last night means that he continues as the most capped Welsh player between the 2015 Rugby World Cup final and going into the second round of the 2019 edition.
Warren Gatland’s side started their Japan tournament with a 43-14 victory over a resilient and giant Georgian side as they scored six tries and sealed a bonus point before half time.
Scores from Jonathan Davies, Justin Tipuric, Josh Adams and Liam Williams put Wales in control at the break and Tomos Williams and George North added further efforts in the second period.
“It was a good first test. It’s been a while since our last game and we’ve been out here in Japan a while,” said the Exeter Chiefs prop, who was part of a strong scrum effort against Georgia.
“We wanted to get out there and play. We knew they would come at us at the scrum and as a tighthead that’s the challenge you want. I relished it and knew what to expect.
“It’s a man test against Georgia. They pride themselves on coming together as eight big men to bully you. You have to stand up to that and I thought in the first half we were good.
“We had that in our locker. The first scrum was in a certain position so we thought we’d have a go, take them on, and go for the double shove. You fight fire with fire, you have to take them on at their own game, and we tried to maul and scrum and take it back at them.”
Georgia scored two tries of their own in the second half, but Wales were still convincing winners.
Gatland’s side have now arrived in Tokyo ahead of Sunday’s game with Australia.
There is just a six-day turnaround between Wales’ first two matches.
“Australia beat Fiji at the scrum and the maul so that’s going to be another real challenge for us. It’s a six-day turnaround for us to get the recovery in and be professional,” added Francis.
“It will be an even bigger challenge at the weekend. We watched the Fiji game on the TV so we know it will be a tough challenge.”