A hat trick from flying winger Shako Aptsiauri helped Georgia to a comfortable 38-17 win over Canada in Batumi on Saturday. While the Maple Leafs held their own in some aspects, they were well beaten in the scrum and looked disorganized when defending the wide channels against an aggressive Lelo attack.
The opening exchanges saw the two sides jostling for territory. From a midfield lineout the Georgians probed to the left side, and then pulled it all the way back to the right. Aptsiauri was given too much space by the cover and from 40 meters out he stepped on the accelerator, taking the outside before weaving back inside to beat three more defenders on the way to a fine individual score.
Peter Nelson got Canada on the board with a straightforward penalty goal, but the Lelos responded with another score out wide. This time is was left wing Demur Tapladze with an easy finish on the end of an overlap. A yellow card went to Georgian captain Beka Gorgadze for a deliberate knock-on. Before halftime, however, his team would score a third try as a poor kick chase allowed Tedo Abzhandadze to counter-attack, freeing Aptsiauri for his double to make it 17-3 with 40 minutes played.
The third try to Aptsiauri came early in the second half, when Davit Niniashvili took the attention of two defenders and freed his hands for the offload. A fourth try nearly came to the winger as Aptsiauri crashed into a pair of tacklers on the goal line, but he somehow managed to hand the ball off to a supporting Giorgi Kveseladze for the finish. Abzhandadze landed both conversions to give the Georgians a commanding 31-3 lead with 26 minutes left on the clock.
A flying Josiah Morra won the aerial battle at the ensuing kickoff, and Canada were soon knocking on the door. When the forwards were stopped just short, Brock Gallagher sold the post defense on a dummy and dove over for the try. Not long after Sion Parry was binned for failing to release the ball under pressure, and from the resulting lineout Tornike Jalagonia broke through a maul to score Georgia’s sixth try.
Repeat offsides led to a yellow card for Georgian flanker Luka Ivanishvili, giving the Canadians an advantage in the final minutes. Nic Benn’s grubber down the sideline set alarm bells ringing before it bounced into touch just ahead of the corner flag. The throw-in, however, was too long and instead went to Parry who crashed in for the try to make up for his earlier indiscretion.
Georgia will head to their capital of Tbilisi where they will host Japan next Saturday. On the same day Canada ends their European tour with a clash against Portugal in Coimbra.
GEORGIA 38
Tries (6) – S. Aptsiauri 3 (8′, 38′, 45′), D. Tapladze (27′), G. Kveseladze (53′), T. Jalagonia (64′)
Cons (4) – T. Abzhandadze 4/6 (28′, 46′, 54′, 65′)
YC (2) – B. Gorgadze (36′), L. Ivanishili (71′)
CANADA 17
Tries (2) – B. Gallagher (55′), S. Perry (78′)
Cons (2) – P. Nelson 2/2 (56′, 79′)
Pens (1) – P. Nelson 1/1 (22′)
YC (1) – S. Parry (63′)
GEORGIA
1 Dato Abdushelishvili, 2 Vano Karkadze, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Lado Chachanidze, 6 Ilia Spanderashvili, 7 Beka Saghinadze, 8 Beka Gorgadze (capt.), 9 Vaso Lobzhanidze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 11 Demur Tapladze, 12 Georges Shvelidze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 14 Shako Aptsiauri, 15 Davit Niniashvili
Replacements: 16 Irakli Kvatadze, 17 Giorgi Tetrashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Giorgi Javakhia, 20 Luka Ivanishvili, 21 Tornike Jalagonia, 22 Gela Aprasidze, 23 Luka Matkava
CANADA
1 Emerson Prior, 2 Dewald Kotze, 3 Cole Keith, 4 Piers von Dadelszen, 5 Barnaby Waddell, 6 Mason Flesch, 7 Lucas Rumball, 8 Matthew Oworu, 9 Jason Higgins, 10 Robbie Povey, 11 Nic Benn, 12 Noah Flesch, 13 Spencer Jones, 14 Josiah Morra, 15 Peter Nelson
Replacements: 16 Austin Creighton, 17 Sam Miller, 18 Matt Tierney, 19 Izzak Kelly, 20 Callum Botchar, 21 Sion Parry, 22 Brock Gallagher, 23 Kyle Tremblay
Date: Saturday, November 15
Venue: Adjarabet Arena, Batumi
Kickoff: 16:00 local
Weather: cloudy with showers, 57°F (14°C), wind SW 5-8 mph (9-13 km/h)
Referee: Paul Williams (New Zealand)
Assistants: Federico Vedovelli (Italy) & Filippo Russo (Italy)
TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)
