Georgia Power to Victory Against Chile

Georgia powered to victory against Chile on Saturday, winning 49-22 in Santiago. The Lelos ran in seven tries with fly half Luka Matkava converting all of them. Six players scored tries for Georgia with replacement hooker Vakhtang Jintcharadze claiming two of them. Los Cóndores scored three tries.

Chile had a less than ideal start. Javier Eissmann was yellow carded just three minutes into the game. Georgia took advantage with Bachuki Tchumbadze scoring the opening try. The home side scored their first points in the form of a penalty. Matías Garafulic, playing today at fullback, made it 7-3 after nine minutes.

Vakhtang Jintcharadze scored next to take Georgia to a 14-3 lead. It got worse as Los Cóndores lost Santiago Videla to a yellow card just five minutes after Eissmann had completed his ten minutes off the field.

Chilean discipline was taken advantage of again by the Europeans. This time Luka Ivanishvili crossed for the Lelos. It ended an opening quarter in which Georgia outscored Chile by three tries to zero.

Los Cóndores recovered well in the second quarter. Rookie winger Manuel Bustamante scored his first test try for Chile. Garafulic’s conversion attempt hit the uprights.

Georgia lost a player off their own to a yellow card but they were able to score their fourth try with Beka Shvangiradze crossing. Chile responded with center Santiago Videla scoring the second try for the home side. It meant the half-time score was 28-15 in favor of Georgia.

The Lelos scored three of the four second-half tries. Tornike Kakhoidze and Ioane Iashagashvili put the result beyond doubt before the teams exchanged late tries with Vakhtang Jintcharadze and Matías Dittus each scoring.

The result means Georgia remain undefeated in the World Rugby Nations Cup. Chile end the July Internationals with wins over Hong Kong and Romania but a loss against Georgia. Chile will face Portugal, Spain and Zimbabwe in Europe in November.

• It was just the second Chile vs Georgia rugby test match and the first in 22 years.

CHILE (22)
TRY – M Bustamante (25′), S Videla (39′), M Dittus (80′)
CON – M Garafulic (40′, 80′)
PEN – M Garafulic (9′)
YC – J Eissmann (3′), S Videla (18′)

GEORGIA (49)
TRY – B Tchumbadze (4′), V Jintcharadze 2 (12′, 79′), L Ivanishvili (18′), B Shvangiradze (35′), T Kakhoidze (59′), I Iashagashvili (67′)
CON – L Matava 7 (5′, 13′, 18′, 36′, 60′, 69′, 80′)
YC – T Kakhoidze (32′)

CHILE
1 Javier Carrasco, 2 Diego Escobar, 3 Iñaki Gurruchaga, 4 Santiago Pedrero, 5 Javier Eissmann, 6 Martín Sigren (capt.), 7 Raimundo Martínez, 8 Alfonso Escobar, 9 Marcelo Torrealba, 10 Rodrigo Fernández, 11 Nicolás Saab, 12 Santiago Videla, 13 Domingo Saavedra, 14 Manuel Bustamante, 15 Matías Garafulic

Replacements: 16 Salvador Lues, 17 Emilio Shea, 18 Matías Dittus, 19 Bruno Sáez, 20 Clemente Saavedra, 21 Sebastian Bianchi, 22 Iñaki Ayarza, 23 Ernesto Tchimino

GEORGIA
1 Giorgi Akhaladze, 2 Nikoloz Sutidze, 3 Bachuki Chumbadze, 4 Mikheil Babunashvili, 5 Giorgi Javakhia, 6 Beka Shvangiradze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 10 Luka Matkava, 11 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Tornike Kakhoidze, 13 Giorgi Shvelidze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 15 Davit Niniashvili (capt.)

Replacements: 16 Vakhtang Jintcharadze, 17 Nika Abuladze, 18 Giorgi Pertaia, 19 Kote Mikautadze, 20 Ilia Spanderashvili, 21 Ioane Iashagashvili, 22 Mikheil Alania, 23 Tedo Abzhandadze

MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE: Jordan Way (Australia)
ASSISTANTS: Federico Longobardi (Argentina); Nerea Livoni (Argentina)
TMO: Julien Castaignede (France)