Rugby World Cup 2011: Scotland v Georgia – live! | Barry Glendenning

• More stats for this game than you can shake a stick at • Hit F5 or turn or autorefresh for updates • Email barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk 14 min: “Squeeze ball position,” says referee George Clancy, awarding Scotland a penalty after Georgia winger Alexander Todua had sprinted down right wing and tried and failed to squeeze the ball between his legs upon being tackled. Scotland clear their lines courtesy of Dan Parks. 13 min: Georgia win a penalty just inside their own half and the camera immediately cuts to a guilty looking Scotland flanker Ross Rennie. I have no idea what he did there, but he’s allowed Merab Kvirikashvili the opportunity to kick for touch again. 10 min: Scotland win a line-out about five yards from the Georgia try-line. After a busy period of rucking, Scottish scrum-half Rory Lawson plays the ball out the left, where centre Nick De Luca knocks on. Georgia get to clear their lines. 8 min: “It’s all about the intensity of the game … the level of intensity and the level of contact,” expounds ITV match analyst Scott Hastings, as a pair of Scots double up to put a stop to the gallop of Georgian centre Tedo Zibzibadze. It’s been a bruising encounter so far, but not as attritional and forward-driven as the pundits suggested it would be before the game. 5 min: Excellent carrying by Georgia’s talismanic flanker Mamuka Gorgodze, who sets up a Georgia scrum inside the Scotland 22. Scrum-half Irakli Abuseridze pings the ball back to fly-half Kvirikashvili, who slices a left-footed drop goal attempt wide of the left upright. That’s a poor effort – he was under the posts and should have put his team ahead. 2 min: Just inside his own half, Georgian second-row Vakhtang Maisuradze charges into a wall of Scottish opposition and Nathan Hines is penalised for being offside Scotland get penalised for offside. Merab Kvirikashvili kicks for touch. Kick-off: It’s a very pleasant evening in Invercargill, types minute-by-minute reporter from London bunker, with the wind and rain of the weekend having dissipated. Georgia kick off, courtesy of fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili, but concede a penalty for handling on the ground in the ensuing ruck, allowing Dan Parks a free kick for touch. Not long now: Out on the pitch, a topless man in a grass skirt summons the teams from the dressing room by blowing into a giant conch. Meanwhile back in Blighty, ITV1 pundit Gareth Thomas claims “it’s going to be a really interesting physical encounter, like an arm-wrestle for the first 10 minutes”. He adds that Scotland fly-half Dan Parks is likely to “kick the leather off the ball” in his efforts to get Scotland into good positions, but both he and his fellow pundit Thom Evans concede that Scotland are vulnerable today. With matches against England and Argentina to come, this encounter with Georgia is decidedly “must-win”. Good morning and welcome to our minute-by-minute coverage of the Pool B match between Scotland and Georgia at Invercargill, commercial centre of New Zealand’s southland region, one of the southernmost cities in the world and a place where many of the main thoroughfares are named after Scottish rivers: Dee Street and Tay Street take a bow. The Scots have a nervy win over Romania under their sporrans and today face equally hardy east European opposition whose main strengths can be found from numbers one to eight. In the buildup to the game, Georgia’s manager Richie Dixon, a Scot, spoke of his side’s hopes of taking the game to Scotland in the scrum but conceded that Georgia are at a disadvantage because their opposition have played a game already. “I think Georgia has built a reputation on the fact that their forwards are good at scrummaging and our aim is to maintain that,” said Dixon. “Our problem is that Scotland now have a game under their belt and we are coming in cold. It’s really up to us to make sure that when we hit the ground, we hit the ground running.” Thirteen of Georgia’s starting line-up ply their trade in France and the star turn is undoubtedly openside flanker Mamuka ‘Gorgodzilla’ Gorgodze, who plays for Montpellier and was named by L’Equipe as the Top 14′s leading overseas player in the 2010-11 season. Agen’s Dimitri Basilaia will play at No8, while Toulon prop David Kubriashvili is on the bench, emphasising the strength in depth of the Georgian pack. “We have versatility in our back row and we feel for this particular game Mamuka at No7 and Dimitri at No8 is how we will start this game,” said Dixon. “It’s not a new formation for us. He [Gorgodze] plays very frequently at No7 for Montpellier and has played for us a number of times there. We feel, for this particular game, this particular combination is the way we want to go.” Scotland coach Andy Robinson has made 11 changes in personnel to the team that struggled to beat Romania, although he insists this is not a damning indictment of the players who struggled to assert their dominance in their opening game. “It’s a cracking side that we’ve selected,” said Robinson, who has kept Max Evans and Allan Jacobsen as winger and prop respectively, moved Sean Lamont from centre to wing and switched Kelly Brown from flanker to No8. “It’s very difficult for the players to play two matches in four days. We need to be very physical and be able to smash the Georgians to the floor.” Teams Scotland: 15-Rory Lamont, 14-Max Evans, 13-Nick De Luca, 12-Graeme Morrison, 11-Sean Lamont, 10-Dan Parks, 9-Rory Lawson (captain); 8-Kelly Brown, 7-Ross Rennie, 6-Ally Strokosch, 5-Jim Hamilton, 4-Nathan Hines, 3-Euan Murray, 2-Scott Lawson, 1-Allan Jacobsen. Replacements: 16-Ross Ford, 17-Geoff Cross, 18-Alasdair Dickinson, 19-Richie Gray, 20-Richie Vernon, 21-Chris Cusiter, 22-Chris Paterson. Georgia: 15-Revaz Gigauri, 14-Irakli Machkhaneli, 13-David Kacharava, 12-Tedo Zibzibadze, 11-Alexander Todua, 10-Merab Kvirikashvili, 9-Irakli Abuseridze (captain), 8-Dimitri Basilaia, 7-Mamuka Gorgodze, 6-Shalva Sutiashvili, 5-Vakhtang Maisuradze, 4-Levan Datunashvili, 3-David Zirakashvili, 2-Jaba Bregvadze, 1-David Khinchagishvili. Replacements: 16-Akvsenti Giorgadze, 17-David Kubriashvili, 18-Giorgi Chkhaidze, 19-Viktor Kolelishvili, 20-Bidzina Samkharadze, 21-Lasha Khmaladze, 22-Malkhaz Urjukashvili. Referee: George Clancy (Ireland) Touch judge: Tim Hayes (Wales) Touch judge: Simon McDowell (Ireland) Video referee: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa) Rugby World Cup 2011 Scotland rugby union team Georgia rugby union team Rugby union Barry Glendenning guardian.co.uk

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