Late penalty gives Georgian stunning victory over Wales

CARDIFF, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Replacement flyhalf Luka Matkava, a 21-year-old playing his second international, landed a 77th-minute penalty to earn Georgia a famous 13-12 victory over a ragged Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.

Wales took a while to get going but surged clear when flanker Jac Morgan scored two tries within five minutes midway through the first half, for a 12-3 halftime lead.

They looked short of ideas for much of the second half, however, and, after losing winger Alex Cuthbert to the sin bin, conceded a try as Alexander Todue collected a Tedo Abzhandadze kick into acres of space.

Abzhandadze added the conversion to his earlier penalty to bring it back to 12-10 and though he then missed with another kickable penalty soon after, the Georgians continued to dominate and were rewarded when Matkava split the posts from 40 metres.

The teams will meet again in their final pool game at next year’s World Cup.

Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Clare Fallon

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source: reuters.com