And that is that. Congratulations to Wales on winning Pool C and sealing a quarter-final in Marseille next Saturday. And well done to Georgia on putting up a very decent showing today.
Niall McVeigh has England v Samoa, live and direct, right here:
Au revoir.
Hamish Stuart is on the scene for us in Nantes. Here’s the match report:
Peter Jackson points out that Big George North will make history with his fourth straight Rugby World Cup quarter-final appearance next weekend:
George North, Test try no. 49, will make history next week, the first threequarter to appear in four consecutive World Cup quarter finals. Six tries, 43 points, for Wales. Not bad for a below par performance.
— Peter Jackson (@JackoRugby) October 7, 2023
FINAL SCORE.
Sheer simplicity from the WRU’s social team.
🏉 SGÔR TERFYNOL
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) October 7, 2023
🏴 43-19 🇬🇪
#WelshRugby | #ViveLeCymru pic.twitter.com/xghTiGBRE4
Gareth Davies’ attempt to tackle Niniashvili before the third Georgian try was certainly notable for its amateurishness. He won’t enjoy that one in the video analysis room. Overall Wales look in excellent physical shape, as I mentioned earlier, but that performance will also give any quarter-final opponent hope that they can cause Gatland’s side problems.
“Unless and until Welsh players tackle properly there will always be a likelihood of conceding tries and penalties that would otherwise be avoided,” emails Leigh. “The standing up “tackle” is ineffective and potentially dangerous. Welsh defensive play is awful at times. Lydiate’s low, hard, chop tackles are the way to go.”
Rees-Zammit’s hat-trick sees him join Darcy Graham (Scotland), Damien McKenzie (New Zealand) and Henry Arundell (England) on five tries. They’re all joint second in the race for the golden, er, something. Damian Penaud has six for France and tops the charts.
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We’ll have a match report coming up soon. Later today there is the small matter of England v Samoa, followed by Ireland v Scotland, which has all the potential to be a classic.
Full-time! Wales 43-19 Georgia
Georgia fail to repeat their heroics of Cardiff last November, but they certainly made a game of it. Wales had a mixed afternoon, and there will be areas of concern for Gatland, but qualifying as pool winners with four wins out of four is not to be sniffed at.
Wales’s quarter-final will be at 4pm UK time next Saturday in Marseille. They will face either Japan or Argentina.
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Try! 79 min: Wales 43-19 Georgia (North)
It’s there! Big George North gets the try his excellent performance deserves, nipping in around the covering defence on the right wing. Costelow converts. And that’s it.
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77 min: “It’s good to see the TMO cock up like VAR,” emails Phil Haran. “Most people think TMO is always right!”
“One just has the feeling that if Georgia had scored those last two Rees-Zammit tries, they would have been brought back for a forward pass and no downward pressure,” chips in Hugh Molloy.
Try! 74 min: Wales 36-19 Georgia (Rees-Zammit)
Well well well. Rees-Zammit chases a kick into the in-goal area. Kveseladze is there too. It looks like the wing knocks the ball on as he stoops down, with the ball also ricocheting off Kveseladze’s foot. Anyway, the TMO has a look and awards the try. The conversion is missed. But Wales have this match in the bag. It has, however, been a proper test.
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70 min: Yellow card for both teams: Basham and Niniashvili
Both teams down to 14 for the remainder of the match.
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70 min: A huge fight kicks off with more than 20 players involved. Taine Basham starts it with a neck-grab on Niniashvili, who has the ball. Niniashvili reacts angrily, which seems fair enough to me. Everyone piles in and it looks like a few punches are thrown in the melee. Or certainly a few leading elbows. Raynal, the referee, chooses to send both Basham and Niniashvili to the sin bin. Niniashvili reacts with some disbelief at being sent for a sit down for 10 minutes.
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70 min: The attacking bonus point for four tries means Wales will top Pool C. Their quarter-final is in Marseille in seven days’ time.
Try! 67 min: Wales 31-19 Georgia (Rees-Zammit)
Order, from a Welsh perspective, is restored. The full-back Liam Williams bursts down the right wing and chips ahead. Rees-Zammit comfortably has the gas to outpace the covering defenders, gather the ball and dive over the line to touch down. Costelow converts and Williams is immediately withdrawn from the action. Mason Grady comes on.
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65 min: Wales get a penalty and Costelow will kick. It’s right in the middle of the field and very kickable, but he scuffs it, doesn’t get the distance, and Georgia can clear.
63 min: Dee, Smith, Thomas, Basham and the aforementioned Gareth Davies are all on for Wales now. Karkadze, Abuladze, Aptisiauri, Chachanidze, Aprasidze and Tapladze are on for Georgia.
Try! 62 min: Wales 24-19 Georgia (Niniashvili)
Wow! Costelow hands the initiative to Georgia again when he makes a hash of a clearing kick. From the resulting lineout, Niniashvili gets a head of steam up running down the left wing, he palms off a poor attempted tackle by Gareth Davies, and has a clear run to the line where he swan dives over! Conversion missed, but Georgia can win this!
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Try! 58 min: Wales 24-14 Georgia
Georgia make progress down the left wing. They win an attacking lineout, again, five metres out. And this time they nail it! Vano Karkadze, the replacement hooker, delivers the ball to the lineout and then joins the drive for the try-line. He gets his hands on the pill and flops over! Matkava converts. Have we got a game on again?!
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53 min: Tabutsadze, the wing, is nearly in at the corner for Georgia on the right! But he’s marginally forced into touch by some desperate last-ditch defending.
Georgia immediately come again, on the left this time, and Tabutsadze is at it again, jinking past a tackle or two and making inroads into the Welsh 22. But again Gatland’s side scramble sufficiently well to keep Georgia out. There is no question that Wales look extremely fit, and their defence has largely been exemplary.
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52 min: Raynal awards Georgia a penalty at that scrum. They kick for the corner but Wales steal their lineout ball again. Very frustrating for the Georgian coaching team, not to mention their fans, and the players, and even the neutrals, and probably another group of people I’ve forgotten.
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50 min: There is a scrum. It’s reset once or twice. The stadium DJ is playing a bit of Freddie Mercury call-and-response, to give the crowd something to do.
47 min: I think we can safely say that Wales are going to be top of Pool C. They need one more try for an attacking bonus, but even if Georgia were (for example) to score 25 unanswered points and win the match, Wales would still top the pool with a losing bonus point.
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Try! 43 min: Wales 24-7 Georgia (Rees-Zammit)
Georgia begin the half in determined style. They keep the ball in the hands and move the ball right, moving into contact with plenty of intent and also keeping the attack moving smoothly … but then Kveseladze, the No 13, whips an attempted pass back in the other direction, from right to left. It’s a horrible effort that bounces up and finds George North’s hands, and the Georgian defence is completely exposed when Louis Rees-Zammit gets the ball thanks to a simple pass from North. The Gloucester wing runs in a try from long distance with utter nonchalance.
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Second half kick off!
“The Welsh diaspora in Zambia are watching the match,” says Stephen Bickers on Twitter. “But we also think those passes were forward!”
What – all of them? Good to have you on board anyway.
Half-time! Wales 17-7 Georgia
Will Gatland be happy with that? Yes and no. Wales were firmly in control for most of the half, but Georgia impressively fought back in the final 10 minutes or so, and Sharikadze’s try has put them in with a shout. See you soon for more.
39 min: Faletau clumsily spills the ball in contact around the Wales 22. Georgia nab it and attack into the danger zone. Tomos Williams makes a good tackle on the No 6, Gachechiladze, and Wales immediately turn the ball back over. Raynal awards Georgia a scrum put-in and it’s a promising position for them, but then a penalty comes for a high tackle, and that’s half time.
Try! 35 min: Wales 17-7 Georgia (Sharikadze)
This is a tremendous score for the Lelos, considering how much pressure they have been under. They get the lineout right, five metres out, and form a driving maul. Wales hold firm for quite some time, but then Georgia spin the ball through the hands into the middle of the pitch after someone makes a dart from the side of the maul. The captain Sharikadze has plenty of work to do when he gets his mitts on the ball about five metres out but manages to power through a challenge and touch down. Excellent try. Matkava converts, and we have a ball game.
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33 min: For the first time Georgia get some attacking continuity together. Niniashvili has a dart on the right wing and stoops into a tackle – it’s what might be considered a high hit but the referee tells him he’s “falling down” so there’s nothing wrong with it. Lineout for Georgia five metres out now …
30 min: Big George North is a livewire once again with the ball in hand and offers up an offload for Costelow to run on to. Williams is then wrapped up by a big tackle and I think the referee, Raynal, has a check with the TMO about that or something else. I’m watching on French telly so I don’t have the luxury of English commentary.
Penalty! 27 min: Wales 17-0 Georgia (Costelow)
The young fly-half has slotted into this side seamlessly, which is not easy to do when you didn’t expect to start. He’s three from three off the tee and created the second try with a wonderful pass to Williams too.
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Try! 23 min: Wales 14-0 Georgia (Liam Williams)
A strong scrum for Wales leads to a move down the blindside with Dyer, again, having a glimpse of space out wide. Faletau then takes it up but is driven back into touch by two or three tacklers. Wales manage to win the resulting lineout, Tomos Williams feeds his No 10, Costelow, and Costelow in turn loops a lovely pass to Liam Williams in plenty of space. The full-back is a vision of composure as he jinks beyond one tackler and touches down with another opponent threatening, but not succeeding, to make a tackle. Costelow strokes the conversion through the posts. This is ominous for Georgia.
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Try! 16 min: Wales 7-0 Georgia (Francis)
A neat lineout move sets up a driving maul for Wales from five metres which Georgia do well to repel initially. Wales keep the ball in hand, though, and Francis crashes through a tackle to score from a couple of metres out. Costelow converts. That was a powerful and efficient score of the sort that reduced Australia to a quivering mess.
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13 min: Mike Forshaw, the Wales defence coach, spoke about how well Georgia defended against Fiji. They are picking up where they left off and staying very solid. As I type, space opens up for Wales on the left wing, and it looks like Rio Dyer might have a run at the line. But sure enough another Georgian tackler appears.
11 min: George North, AKA “Big” George North, has a run towards a cluster of would-be tacklers in midfield. He shows lovely footwork to step away from a couple of them but is eventually scragged.
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9 min: Wales enjoy some territory around the Georgia 22, working through a few attacking phases with some carrying down the middle. Costelow then tries a grubber kick for a couple of back line colleagues to chase but he overcooks it and it squirts harmlessly out in-goal. It remains scoreless.
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7 min: It’s been an all-action start. It doesn’t look like a match with nothing riding on it, and I guess that’s because it’s not. Wales can secure top spot and Georgia can restore a huge amount of pride with a win.
Georgia win an attacking lineout cleanly and spin the ball out to the right but the Welsh defence is well positioned to keep them out.
4 min: Liam Williams is hit in the air and ends up in a heap. Initially it looks like he might be badly hurt but he has a quick lie down and then gets up. Raynal, the referee, has a few words with both teams and awards a penalty against Dewi Lake for a neck roll, I think.
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2 min: Wales kick off. Georgia box kick. Costelow of Wales kicks it back. Luka Matkava, the Georgia No 10, has a run from deep but is swiftly munched by some strong Welsh tackling.
Kick off!
Here we go.
Huw Thomas has some thoughts on Wales strategy:
“1. Keep it tight
2. Throw it about when it’s won - act like the perennial World Cup winners - ruthless, clinical and focused.”
Works for me.
Georgia’s team belt out their anthem. There was a lot of hugging going on in the changing room five minutes ago too. Rest assured, they are up for this.
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Here come the teams. It’s a quite frankly ludicrous 27C in a very sunny Nantes, and will be hotter than that in the stadium. Time for the anthems.
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Wales fans, what are you thoughts on today, and indeed what are your expectations for the last eight?
You can email me or tweet @LukeMcLaughlin
Will Rowlands, who is joining Racing 92, was asked this week if he is enjoying a taste of French culture at the World Cup.
“Very much so,” he said. “It’s been an incredible month out here, I’ve loved the four cities we’ve been to. Great support, great atmosphere everywhere and I’m very excited to continue to journey. My French [learning] is on the go. I used to speak ok French when I was at school so it’s rusty but the basics are there.”
Bien.
Terrible luck for Anscombe, but a great opportunity for the 22-year-old Sam Costelow of the Scarlets, who began his career at Leicester Tigers and to date has six caps for Wales.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work with Neil Jenkins in training,” Costelow told the WRU website in August. “He has been helping me with kicking and the game-management side of things. It is about keeping on improving.”
Wales fly-half Gareth Anscombe injured in warm-up
Wale’s selected fly-half, Gareth Anscombe, has injured his groin in the warm-up and has been ruled out at the last minute. That means Sam Costelow starts at No 10 and Dan Biggar is drafted into the replacements. (The official team announcement mentioned that Biggar is injured, but that was of course five days ago …)
🚨 Squad Update
— Welsh Rugby Union 🏴 (@WelshRugbyUnion) October 7, 2023
Sam Costelow will now start, and Dan Biggar comes onto the bench#WelshRugby | #ViveLeCymru pic.twitter.com/rmzt9Bezcl
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And here is the Wales v Georgia preview wot I wrote yesterday.
Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes, of course, was the venue when Fiji stunned Wales back in 2007. And Wales have the memory of last year’s defeat by Georgia still fairly fresh in their minds. In the parallel universe in which Wales needed to win this to stay in the tournament, the omens would not be looking good.
In Lyon last night, France hammered Italy to reach the last eight:
While Ireland and Scotland will duke it out for a quarter-final spot in Paris ce soir:
Team news
Six changes for Wales, with the co-captain Dewi Lake slotting into the front row at hooker, and Gareth Anscombe starting at fly-half in place of the injured Dan Biggar. Tommy Reffell, the scrum-half Tomos Williams and wing Rio Dyer are also in. Warren Gatland, in what might be described as a statement of intent, named his team five days ago.
Five changes for Georgia following their gutsy loss against Fiji last weekend. The coach Levan Maisashvili has given Guram Gogichashvili and Shalva Mamukashvili the nod in the front row, while Nodar Cheishvili comes in at lock. The captain, Merab Sharikadze, returns at inside-centre while full-back Lasha Khmaladze makes his first appearance at Rugby World Cup 2023.
Wales: L Williams; Rees-Zammit, North, Tompkins, Dyer; Anscombe, T Williams; G Thomas, Lake (capt.), Francis, Rowlands, D Jenkins, Wainwright, Reffell, Faletau. Replacements: Dee, Smith, H Thomas, Tshiunza, Basham, G Davies, Costelow, Grady.
Georgia: Khmaladze; Tabutsadze, Kveseladze, Sharikadze (capt.), Niniashvili; Matkava, Lobzhanidze; Gogichashvili, Mamukashvili, Gigashvili, Cheishvili, Mikautadze, Gachechiladze, Saginadze, Jalagonia. Replacements: Karkadze, Abuladze, Aptsiauri, Chachanidze, Tsutskiridze, Aprasidze, Abzhandadze, Tapladze.
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (Fra)
Preamble
Today’s game comes with a pleasing lack of jeopardy for Wales who are safely through to the quarter-finals. Warren Gatland’s resurgent side require just a point from this match to assure top billing in Pool C, but whatever happens they are into the last eight.
Similarly, there is not very much riding on this for Georgia, in view of the fact they are already eliminated. A second win against Wales in the space of a year would be an immensely satisfying way to sign off, however, following defeats by Australia and Fiji and a memorable draw with Portugal.
Levan Maisashvili’s side are unlikely to get much change from a group of Wales players who fancy their chances of a deep tournament run, though, while Gatland has the luxury of managing resources before their assault on the knockout stages.
Who knows – it might be close – it might even be fun. Team news and more coming up.
Kick-off: 2pm UK time
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