FUKUROI CITY – Australia made heavy
work of it in difficult conditions but outlasted a tough Georgia
team to round out their Rugby World Cup Pool D campaign with an
unconvincing 27-8 victory on Friday.
The wind and persistent rain presaging Saturday's arrival of
Typhoon Hagibis made for an untidy contest at Shizuoka Stadium
but the Wallabies did just enough to ensure they will top the
pool if Wales slip up against Uruguay on Sunday.
That is highly unlikely but with England therefore looming
as Australia's quarter-final opposition, a run-out against a big
physical tier-two team was as good a preparation as coach
Michael Cheika could have wanted.
England will have little to fear from the Wallabies on this
evidence, however, as the twice World Cup winners stumbled
rather than cantered into the knockout stages.
Their hopes of a first fast start of the tournament were
quickly quashed by a steely Georgia defence which had already
made 100 tackles before scrumhalf Nic White nipped over the line
to open the scoring in the 23rd minute.
No more tries were to follow before the break but
Australia's problems with the high tackle did return in the 35th
minute when number eight Isi Naisarani was sent to the sin bin
for an arm into the face of Georgian lock Giorgi Nemsadze.
Soso Matiashvili and Matt To'omua exchanged penalties to
give Australia a 10-3 halftime lead but their frequent handling
errors hampered their efforts to break clear at the start of the
second half.
In the end, it took a dazzling individual effort from Marika
Koroibete to make the second-half breakthrough with the big
winger weaving his way past four defenders to touch down on the
hour mark.
Georgia were not done yet, though, and winger Alexander
Todua got the biggest cheer of the night from the rain-drenched
crowd when he tore down the left wing to score 10 minutes from
time.
Loose forward Jack Dempsey and scrumhalf Will Genia crossed
for tries in the last five minutes to earn Australia a bonus
point they did not need and add a bit of respectability to the
scoreline.
Australia's win means Georgia's totemic flanker Mamuka
"Gorgodzilla" Gorgodze heads into retirement without the win
over a tier one team he so desired.