NANTES, France — Wales says it doesn’t bear a grudge against Georgia.
Nearly a year ago, the Georgians went to Cardiff and achieved an historic first success against a feeble Wales by 13-12.
Their first meeting since then in Nantes on Saturday won’t put a dent in the Rugby World Cup. Wales is through to the quarterfinals after three out of three wins and needs one more point to top Pool C. Winless Georgia can’t advance and is on its way home via Nantes.
“We’re not looking back,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said on Thursday. But Georgia is one of the reasons he was brought back last December.
Wayne Pivac’s three-year tenure as coach couldn’t be saved after Georgia. Wales had a strong enough team on paper for the game. But the attack became predictable, the scrum was a penalty magnet and the player leadership disappeared.
Wales survivors from that dark day include Gareth Thomas and backs Tomos Williams, George North and Louis Rees-Zammit. Forwards Taulupe Faletau and Dafydd Jenkins came off the bench. Three more players who were there have been rested: Jac Morgan, Adam Beard and Josh Adams.
“There are no wrongs to right,” Wales forwards coach Jonathan Humphreys said. “They (Georgia) deserved it, they were excellent on the day. This is a totally (new) thing here. This is not about revenge or anything like that, it’s about making sure we’re at our best to win the game and top our group. That’s it.”
Who is Wales kidding? It was utterly embarrassed by Georgia. It was booed by its home crowd. The result will never be forgotten, certainly not by Georgians.
“I can proudly say that that is the biggest win of Georgian rugby history ever, so obviously I am very proud that I have been part of it and this memory is going to stay in our heads for our lifetimes,” capain Merab Sharikadze said on Thursday.
He’s one of 15 Lelos survivors, 11 of them starters.
Georgia is playing for a first win in its final pool game. The Lelos’ have traditionally played a 10-man game but when they noticed during the pandemic that games had less scrums and the rules began helping defenders of mauls, they began giving more ball to outside backs of ability such as Davit Niniashvili and Akaki Tabutsadze. Their game is more attractive, but the problem at the Rugby World Cup has been not finishing their chances.
They scored two tries against Australia (lost 35-15) in the second half but bombed at least three. They should have buried Portugal (drew 18-18) by halftime, and against Fiji (lost 17-12) they bombed a try on halftime that should have meant they led 16-0 instead of 9-0.
“Against Wales, a good result for us will only be winning the game,” coach Levan Maisashvili said.
That will be much, much harder against these Welsh compared to last November. Five months in camp together, compared to the 12 days Pivac had, have made the Welsh fitter and cohesive with an easy-to-follow gameplan. Wins against Fiji, Portugal and Australia have firmed their self-belief.
Gatland encouraged the confidence-building by naming the team last Monday, three days early.
“We want no dip in our performance,” center Nick Tompkins said. “We want to get better, we don’t want to take our foot off the pedal - that’s the last thing we want. We want confidence and momentum and to keep on going.”
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Lineups:
Wales: Liam Williams, Louis Rees-Zammit, George North, Nick Tompkins, Rio Dyer, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Taulupe Faletau, Tommy Reffell, Aaron Wainwright, Dafydd Jenkins, Will Rowlands, Tomas Francis, Dewi Lake (captain), Gareth Thomas. Reserves: Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Taine Basham, Gareth Davies, Sam Costelow, Mason Grady.
Georgia: Lasha Khmaladze, Akaki Tabutsadze, Giorgi Kveseladze, Merab Sharikadze (captain), Davit Niniashvili, Luka Matkava, Vasil Lobzhanidze; Tornike Jalagonia, Beka Saginadze, Mikheil Gachechiladze, Konstantine Mikautadze, Nodar Cheishvili, Beka Gigashvili, Shalva Mamukashvili, Guram Gogichashvili. Reserves: Vano Karkadze, Nika Abuladze, Irakli Aptsiauri, Vladimer Chachnidze, Giorgi Tsutskiridze, Gela Aprasidze, Tedo Abzhandadze, Demur Tapladze.
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