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Scotland grind past Georgia

14th September 2011 07:36

Scotland s winger Rory Lamont shut down by georgia

No way through: Rory Lamont is shut down

Scotland made heavy work of their second World Cup win on Wednesday, labouring to a 15-6 win over Georgia in Invercargill in probably the worst game so far in the 2011 World Cup.

Four penalties and a drop-goal from Dan Parks were enough to hand Scotland four pool points in a try-less encounter in wet conditions.

After struggling to get the better of Romania in their opening fixture on Saturday, Scotland once again failed to impress against a side playing rather negative rugby.

Opportunities were not lacking for Scotland, but their poor execution suggests that they will struggle to make the quarter-finals.

Georgia's tactics were exactly what we expected: It was all about using the grunt of the pack, taking Scotland on up front and doing everything in their power to disrupt Scottish possession.

And it worked. Scotland were always going to try use their superior backs to stretch the big Eastern Europeans wide and they had the majority of the possession to do so. But the Scots' handling let them down more often that not.

Scotland held a 9-3 lead at the end of a first-half highlighted by some thundering tackles from the Georgians and some poor kicking by both sides.

Scotland were forced into a late change when hooker Scott Lawson pulled out after suffering from a tight calf muscle in training. Ross Ford was called into the first-team to replace Lawson, with Dougie Hall coming onto the replacements' bench.

If Andy Robinson's team were in any doubt they were in for a stern contest, it was clear they had a battle on their hands when Georgia took the lead at the end of the first quarter.

Fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili smashed over a penalty from half-way to give the underdogs their first points of the tournament.

Scotland got onto the scoreboard when Parks landed his second attempt at goal. The pivot put the Scots ahead on 33 minutes before slotting a drop-goal just before the break to leave his team 9-3 ahead as the protagonists headed for the changing rooms.

It was much the same story in the second period and the crowd had to wait until the 71st minute to see the first points - again from Parks's boot.

Georgia replied almost immediately but a late three-pointer from Parks secured the win for Scotland.

Man of the match: Not too many impressive performances but Kelly Brown worked tirelessly at the breakdown.

Moment of the match: The anthems? Not much to write home about here. Dan Parks's drop-goal summed up what was a frustrating night for Scotland. Unable to breach the Georgian defence, they had to advance three points at a time.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Pens: Parks 4
Drop: Parks

For Georgia:
Pens: Kvirikashvili 2

Scotland: 15 Rory Lamont, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson (captain), 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Ross Rennie, 6 Al Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Nathan Hines, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen.
Replacements: 16 Dougie Hall, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Alasdair Dickinson, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Richie Vernon, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Chris Paterson.

Georgia: 15 Revaz Gigauri, 14 Irakli Machkhaneli, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Tedo Zibzibadze, 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Merab Kvirikashvili, 9 Irakli Abuseridze (capt), 8 Dimitri Basilaia, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Vakhtang Maisuradze, 4 Levan Datunashvili, 3 David Zirakashvili, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 David Khinchagishvili.
Replacements: 16 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 17 David Kubriashvilini, 18 Giorgi Chkhaidze, 19 Viktor Kolelishvili, 20 Bidzina Samkharadze, 21 Lasha Khmaladze, 22 Malkhaz Urjukashvili.

Venue: Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Simon McDowell (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Comments

scot_rsa says...

Scotland are steadily working their way into the position of complete underdogs against ARG and ENG. If I didn't know better I'd think they planned it that way, hee hee.

Posted 12:23 14th September 2011

porridge_time says...

Depends rangdaddy which QF is first up... Sco v Fra or AB v Eng? Only joking it's now between Ireland and Wales for the early plane home race in my opinion... mind you South Africa are in the mix two.

This is the way I see the groups panning out:-

AB v Eng; Sco v Fra; Aus v Fiji; Sam v Ita.

Posted 12:20 14th September 2011

porridge_time says...

Lets wait and see how Argentina and England perform against both Romania and Georgia at the weekend. Both these Eastern European teams will have taken a huge amount of confidence from their performances so far.

Argentina and England may also get dragged into an arm wrestle with them and well anything can happen. Just as Scotland is capable of beating Eng and Arg on their day the same now must be said for Romania and Georgia.

I'm still confident that Scoltand can go on and beat Argentina and England.

Posted 12:12 14th September 2011

Kenmac says...

Scotland are so frustrating to watch. They have the skill to score tries and win but always come up short by schoolboy errors. Handling!! I think it is all mental and they need a boot up the backside. They will pick up their game against England and Argentina but I think it will be another case of another glorious defeat. So close but not good enough.

Posted 11:11 14th September 2011

APV1 says...

I haven't seen it yet, but it appears that Argentina and England should beat the Scots, even if they do lift their game.

If it were at Murrayfield, I'd be more concerned. What concerns me is that England need to lift their game and with Sheirdan on the plane home, the other props need to stand tall and do the business.

Despite words like "minnows" and "lesser teams", I think we have all seen that those so-called "minnows" are giving the rest of the teams a good run for their money and should not be underestimated.

God, this is proving to be a great tournament!!!

Posted 10:54 14th September 2011

rangdaddy says...

Scotland are terrible and the Georgians have to be the most boring side at the RWC....closely followed by poor Scotland! What's happening Brave Hearts? I wonder who will go home first, Scotland or Ireland or Wales?

Posted 10:44 14th September 2011

hayj05 says...

Has to be the worst game of the tournament so far. Georgia have to learn that they have 7 backs if they want to improve further. They could of suprised Scotland by going wide, there was a lot of space out there.

Scotland will be happy with their foward effort, comfortably had the upper hand but just blew chance after chance. I'm sure they'll be happy with the win though :)

Posted 10:24 14th September 2011

melkdave says...

Well done Scotland matched and even at times better than Georgia in the scrum Also very creative in bad conditions so all round a very good game for Scotland with lots of pluses. with better conditions there would have been less handling errors aswell.Still a pretty close game though Goergia played their part put ikicked to much imo giving ball away to easialy

Posted 10:19 14th September 2011

JamieTheProp says...

Argentina are going to beat Scotland based on the performances I have seen from both teams.

I know that Scotland also lift their game for England as well but I can still see them having too much for what seems to be a poor Scottish side!

Scotland 3rd in the group and going home!

Posted 10:18 14th September 2011

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  • Georgia Fixtures
  • Table
Pool B
World Cup Table
PosTeamPPts
1England418
2Argentina414
3Scotland411
4Georgia44
5Romania40