Georgia Ready For Flying Fijians
The Georgian rugby team are ready to take on the Fiji Airways Flying Fijians at the ANZ Stadium, Suva this Saturday. This was after they pipped Tonga 16-15 in their Pacific Nations Cup opener yesterday.
Georgia captain Giorgi Nemsadze told SUNsports that preparation for the match against the Flying Fijians starts tomorrow.
“We started well but lost concentration midway the first spell which allowed Tonga to hit back,” Nemsadze said.
“We cannot allow that since we’ve got tougher matches coming up. We need to be focused for the whole 80 minutes.
“The Flying Fijians have experienced players but for us the recovery session is tomorrow before we kick start our preparations.”
Tonga captain Siale Piutau said they need to work on their discipline before their crunch match against Samoa.
What happened: Georgia started strongly as they dominated possession and pinned the Tongans into their territory.
The momentum saw Georgians backline punching holes in the Tonga defence with Ioseb Matiashvili scoring the first try in the 21st minute with Vasil Lobzhanidze adding the extras for a 7-0 lead.
It was all Georgia in the first half as they dominated play and never allowed Tonga to settle down.
Playing under pressure Tonga were penalised and Georgia’s Shalva Sutiashvili extended the lead to 10-0 with a well taken penalty.
However, this woke the Tongans as they hit back with Sonatane Takuluha kicking over a penalty to narrow the deficit 10-3.
In the 38th minute Matiashvili kicked another penalty for Georgia to further extend their lead 13-3.
Halftime: Georgia 13-3 Tonga.
Georgia made it 16-3 in the 51st minute with a penalty from Mikheil Gachechiladze. Minutes later he copped a yellow card for a dangerous tackle.
Tonga took advantage of the situation with Viliami Lolohea going over for the first try which was not converted. Trailing 16-8 they fought on and in the 77th minute David Halaifonua scored from a pushover try with Nasi Manu kicking over the conversation.
Edited by Leone Cabenatabua
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