Rugby Georgia-Italy: 28-19. Test match

A heavy and well-deserved defeat. Fireworks explode on Batumi, Georgia beat Italy 28-19 in the match that had been waiting to play at home for a lifetime, to show that they too deserve a space in rugby that matters and that the Six Nations should not be a closed club. Nothing will change anytime soon, but the political message is very strong. And also the technical one, because in front of an orderly team, with a strong possession, two linear midfielders and only one great talent – the extreme Niniashvili – Crowley’s young Italy turns out to be still immature, lacking certainties – superiority in the fray, combat, defense, effectiveness in the air – that make a team truly first level. The Georgians ended up three goals to one, but the victory comes above all from the fight, from the solidity of the game plan, from the ability to keep calm and not lose balls.

First half

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The atmosphere in Batumi is very hot, the audience first and the Lelos on the pitch immediately make it clear that Georgia is the match of a lifetime. Italy immediately snatches a scrum, but in the game off you immediately understand what the strategy of the hosts will be, who go to tease the depth of the blue defense with high kicks. On the eve of the coach Crowley had admitted that the collection of high balls was one of the points on which Italy must work more and Lelos know it very well. Two possessions are lost at the start, but at 10 ‘the first goal of the Lelos is valuable: a series of pick and go within the 22, the scrum half Lobzhanidze invents a delicious foot assist for the winger Todua who crushes in the last corner of the in-goal available: 5-0 after the Tmo check. Four minutes later Niniashvili demonstrates why at 20 he is a phenomenon: ball lost badly in the ruck by the Azzurri, the goalkeeper of Lyon sees space offshore and makes a sprint that closely resembles that of Capuozzo against Wales, and which creates the 4 against 1 until the goal of Abzhandadze who crushes in the middle of the posts and transforms: 12-0. Start from nightmare, at 17 ‘a veil of Capuozzo makes you fear the +17 but the place of Abzhandadze comes out. Menoncello takes care of shaking the Azzurri: at 20 ‘the blue trocar finds an opening in the traffic, starting practically from a standstill he absorbs the tackle of the hooker Mamukashvili, eludes Mamukashvili and flies over the line for a goal of power and agility: 12-7 . Italy continues to have huge problems on high balls, Niniashvili is an iradiddio, luckily Lamaro puts a piece of it by forcing a held. Ruzza is another who asserts himself in the game on the ground against the very present Giorgians even at the cost of conceding some foul; at 27 ‘steals a ball, on the developments the Lelos use their hands in the game on the ground and Allan can place the 12-10. At 30 ‘another valuable defense of the blues within the 22, three minutes later a foul in the ruck by the Georgians leads to the 12-13 football. But you can get distracted for a moment, because in the 35th minute Niniashvili flies after yet another football recovered, arrives a few meters from the goal and at that point it only takes a few steps for the Georgians to find the passage, still with c, in a blue defense that does not replaced itself: 19-13. Italy remains in 14 for a yellow in Halafihi, in the final minutes the Azzurri have at least two chances to score the goal that would bring them back in front, but first the blue touch drive crosses the line but Lucchesi is held high, and then after a series of percussions rejected, the same Lucchesi is stopped in the start on the closed side of the touch. We go to rest at 19-13 and with the Georgians celebrating the attack rejected as a goal.

Second half

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In the second half, the tactical plot does not change, but Italy loses security, serenity minute by minute, while Georgia is charged as time goes on. Capuozzo fires a blaze when he calls for a mark and then ignites a counterattack from 50 meters. Paolo Garbisi enters, but he will not live his best day: the blue forcing around 8 ‘goes out on a lost touch, and if a kick won in closed gives Allan 19-16, immediately after 15’ Abzhandadze re-stretches (22-16). A bad ball lost by Paolo Garbisi inside the 22 on a pass from his brother Alessandro makes another opportunity fade, a little later Aprasidze takes the post but Italy gets more and more nervous, the balls fall more and more frequently. And Georgians get excited. So at 30 ‘Aprasidze puts the kick of +9 at 30’ from halfway, and if Allan puts the ball in the goal that brings back under break (25-19 at 33 ‘), the Azzurri continue to lose balls and chances in attack – Padovani, a bloody forward by Alessandro Fusco – and with the physical challenge that is increasingly on the side of the Georgians, with the scrum that does not know how to advance in the maul and pays in lock, it is clear that Italy does not have the weapons to shoot the game. And so before Aprasidze misses the kick in the stirrup, Abzhandadze puts it on at 38 ‘. Allan ends 28-19, Georgia celebrates. It wasn’t a game like any other and it wasn’t a game to lose. An icy shower, which will have to serve.