Second half surge helps Scotland overcome Georgia

Colin Newboult

Scotland's Sam Johnson (2L) celebrates scoring their third try against Georgia with Darcy Graham (L), Adam Hastings (2R) and Duncan Taylor (R) during the International Friendly at BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh.

Scotland ended their Rugby World Cup preparations with an unconvincing 36-9 triumph over Georgia at Murrayfield on Friday.

It was a poor performance by the Scots, who were far too error-ridden, but they still had too much for the Lelos. Gregor Townsend’s men scored a couple of neat tries in the opening period via Ali Price and Blair Kinghorn but Tedo Abzhandadze kept the visitors in the contest.

However, Sam Johnson went over after the interval to move the home side further ahead before Darcy Graham, George Horne and Pete Horne completed the win late on, but it was a frustrating evening for the Six Nations team.

The hosts were unsurprisingly the greater threat with ball in hand, showing some decent touches in the loose, but they were met by a resilient Georgian outfit.

Their defence was much-improved and the Scots initially struggled to break through. However, Graham provided the spark they needed to score the opening points as the wing broke down the left and linked with Johnson, who duly found Price to score.

That could have opened the door but, to the visitors’ credit, they remained firm and reduced the arrears via Abzhandadze.

Scotland did manage to touch down again, however, as Adam Hastings’ deft chip was collected and off-loaded by that man Graham, and Kinghorn was on hand to cross the whitewash.

Mistakes were prevalent in the Scottish game, though, and it gave the Lelos an opportunity to build some territory and possession. It resulted in two successful kicks from Abzhandadze, which brought them to within one point, before a dangerous attack almost saw them take the lead.

While the strength of the Georgians has always been in the pack, they have unearthed a couple of talented backs and Soso Matiashvili showed excellent footwork and balance to break the line. The full-back got to within five metres but was brought to ground by an excellent tackle and the move broke down, leaving the match finely poised.

Buoyed by their first half efforts, Georgia continued to pressurise their opponents’ defence but they lacked the top-end quality to capitalise and Townsend’s charges soon punished them.

The Scots finally found their fluency and, after good work from Blade Thomson in the build up, Johnson touched down to extend their advantage to a more comfortable eight points.

Following that score, Georgia tired and Scotland benefited, going over through Graham and George Horne before the scrum-half’s brother, Pete, rounded off proceedings with a sixth try.

The scorers:

For Scotland:
Tries: Price, Kinghorn, Johnson, Graham, G Horne, P Horne
Cons: Hastings 2, G Horne
Yellow Card: Fagerson

For Georgia:
Pens: Abzhandadze 3
Yellow Cards: Nariashvili, Dzneladze

Scotland: 15 Blair Kinghorn, 14 Tommy Seymour, 13 Duncan Taylor, 12 Sam Johnson, 11 Darcy Graham, 10 Adam Hastings, 9 Ali Price, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Jamie Ritchie, 6 Ryan Wilson (c), 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Scott Cummings, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 George Turner, 1 Gordon Reid
Replacements: 16 Grant Stewart, 17 Allan Dell, 18 Simon Berghan, 19 Ben Toolis, 20 Magnus Bradbury, 21 George Horne, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Chris Harris

Georgia: 15 Soso Matiashvili, 14 Zurab Dzneladze, 13 Davit Katcharava, 12 Lasha Malaghuradze, 11 Mirian Modebadze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 6 Shalva Sutiashvili, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili (c)
Replacements: 16 Vano Karkadze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Giorgi Melikidze, 19 Lasha Lomidze, 20 Beka Saghinadze, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tamaz Mtchedlidze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze

Referee: Romain Poite (France)
Assistant Referees: Andrew Brace (Ireland), Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Rowan Kitt (England)

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