And that’s all from me. Thank you for reading, emailing and tweeting. Wales will be happy, even if they faded in the second half somewhat. Like Robin Hazlehurst said on email, maybe it’s good not to peak too early. See you soon for more minute-by-minute fun. Bye!

Leigh Halfpenny and Mamuka Gorgodze shake on it after the final whistle:

Here is the match report, from Paul Rees, our reporter at City of Toyota Stadium:

Cardiff wing Blaine Scully will lead the USA into their World Cup opener against England. Here’s the story:

Wales second row Jake Ball, Player of the Match, speaks:

Also, do you want a top try scorer chart? Here you are:

Bookmark this - our guide to pools, fixtures, results and all that:

Here is a different interview with Gatland, courtesy of Rugby World Cup Twitter:

Gatland speaks to ITV’s Gabriel Clarke: “Good first half, a little bit messy in the second half, the ball was a bit slippery out there. Georgia made it pretty hard for us in the second half and defended a lot better. Overall, pretty pleased ...

“Given the side we were up against, you’ve got to back yourself to go out and score some points. To concede two tries in the second half was a bit disappointing ... Australia is a massive game for us ... these players have worked incredibly hard. This is a World Cup, and we need to make sure we are primed and ready to go.”

That match against Wales is on Sunday in Tokyo. The Wallabies have two days more than Wales to prepare after that win against Fiji on Saturday. That might be a factor but then again, Wales were able to change it up nice and early today and use their replacements with the match and bonus point already secured.

Alun Wyn Jones, in video form:

It’s full-time, confirmed by the WRU:

Gareth Anscombe in the ITV studio: “It’s tough when you get off to a start like that.”

Pardon?

Anscombe’s point, in fairness, is that Wales knew they’d won the match, and their intensity dropped a little as a result. That’s arguably unfair to Georgia though. They came out a different team after the break, and scored a couple of fine tries. The vast majority of teams would have struggled to contain a couple of their better attacks.

79 min: This is true -

78 min. BIG GEORGIA NORTH. I just made that up. Seriously though, it’s been a strong finish by Wales, after Georgia had by far the best of the third quarter. Definitely some things to work on in training for Gatland and his men. The second-half score update is 14-14. Respect to Georgia, they’ve done exceptionally well.

74 min: Abzhandadze puts in a very smart kick, testing replacement Wales full-back Leigh Halfpenny, who came on a few moments ago. Wales manage to clear.

73 min: Georgia are on the attack again. And they are winning the second half 14-7. Milton Haig, their Kiwi coach, looked thrilled by that last try, and he can be very proud of how they have performed in this second half. Gatland and his right-hand men, on the other hand, will be disappointed that the first-half performance has not been matched by the second. Hats off to Georgia, though, they have been excellent since the break, even with a yellow card thrown in.

67 min: Thanks to Arran in Kazakhstan for the following email:

“I agree that spelling their names can be bit perplexing, but as a frequent visitor to Georgia, I can assure you that the place and people are not. Had some great times in Tbilisi and the country in general. Get over there, combine some rugby with spot of tourism. You’ll not regret it.”

Sounds like a good plan.

62 min: Wales are yet to register a single point in the second half. They won the match in the first, which was great. Georgia have been really good, in general, in the third quarter. Smart money must be on a couple more Welsh tries at least as their superior fitness starts to count.

61 min: Georgia have also almost emptied their bench, with six virtually un-spellable replacements being made. They are also back to 15 men after that earlier yellow card for Bregvadze. Thank God for copy and paste.

60 min: Into the final quarter, and Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Ross Moriarty and Tomos Williams are all on for Wales now.

59 min: “It’s just not George’s night tonight,” says Williams, sympathising with the lack of ball that George North has enjoyed.

58 min: Current second-half champions Georgia take it forward again, but a cheeky decoy runner leads to a scrum put-in for Wales right on their own 22.

56 min: “I’m pretty confident Wales will win with a bonus point,” says Jamie Roberts, forgetting they already have a bonus point. We’ve all been there.

55 min: Scrum penalty for Georgia now. Georgia, let’s not forget, are winning the second half 7-0.

55 min: Pat Carey - thank you very much:

“Mas i George North” would translate as “out to George North”, and would sound like massive. In Welsh the Adjective would follow the noun, so George North mawr (big).”

54 min: Wales attack again, but Georgia aren’t having any of it, again. A strong counter-ruck near their own posts, and now hooker Ken Owens is flat on the floor with an injury. Jamie Roberts, on comms, is praying it’s not serious.

51 min: Georgia at it again with some top-drawer defence. North gets a couple of yards of space but is tackled brilliantly and driven back by Lobzhanidze, the scrum-half, of all people. Georgia turn it over. This is a good contest, if you ignore the scoreboard.

I expect a barrage of emails now for not calling him George North, or Big George North, or Massive George North.

49 min: Modebadze, the winger, pulls off a superb interception with Wales threatening the try-line yet again. Then Georgia drill a clearing kick to touch. Excellent defence. The replacements meanwhile are coming thick and fast for Georgia as they search for a lifeline in this match.

46 min: Oof, nearly a beautiful fifth try for Wales. Biggar chips a lovely little kick to his right, full-back Williams dives on to it and over the try-line, but it’s adjudged a knock-on. Or was it an earlier knock-on? It’s no try, anyway.

46 min: Robin Hazlehurst emails:

“Should Wales not worry about peaking too soon? After a half like that the rest of the tournament can only be downhill. It’s a long tournament to keep playing at that level. (not being entirely serious)

“I’m actually watching with commentary in Welsh, and I’m pretty sure the commentator mentioned “Massive George North”. Does massive mean something in Welsh, or is it one of those words borrowed from English, in which case English speakers have been underestimating the big lad.”

42 min: Georgia win the line-out and rumble over. TMO check. “Shall we check it, or shall I just give it?” asks the ref.

41 min: ITV just showed a replay of Biggar accidentally head-butting George North during try celebrations in the first half. That was probably the worst thing that happened for Gatland’s men. Early doors in the second half, Georgia are on the attack again, having turned the ball over from the restart, and have a good attacking platform with a line-out five metres out.

Half-time reading ...

No 1:

No 2:

Back in five.

38 min: A couple of minutes to go in this first half and we’ve seen some lovely rugby. Wales are playing with all the authority of, well, grand slam champions and a recent No 1-ranked side.

36 min: Brian O’Riordan: “Since Jes Pinkerton’s very funny email about ‘Big’ George North, the Welsh flyer hasn’t touched the ball. Maybe Jez has a touch of the jinx about him?”

For one thing, Brian, it was Pickering, not Pinkerton. But I think you knew that. Also, Big George North just touched the ball! I do accept you were correct at the time of writing.

34 min: Wales are pinned back again, this time on the opposite side of the field. Georgia have a good attacking line-out - but they get it wrong, and Big George North fields the bouncing ball. They might be winning by 22 points, but Wales have had a few minutes on the back foot now.

33 min: Anthony Pease on email:

“Although it’s going to be no more than a standout performance in what’s shaping up to be an utter pasting, I like the cut of the Georgian full-back’s jib. Even if you discount his relative solidity under the many high-balls, he’s absolutely rocking that ‘tash.”

Matiashvili, that is.

31 min: Massive tackle by Navidi about seven metres from the Welsh line on Tkhilaishvili, who is a huge unit. BOOM.

But Georgia spin it left, then right, Kveseladze knocks it on, and Wales have repelled their opponents, for now.

29 min: Wales fan Christian Mason emails:

“I’m not watching (so thanks for the mbm) but is the Georgia kit not a tad similar to our own lovely red ?”

Sure, there is nothing wrong with red, let me be clear. I’ve always been a fan of the burgundy/wine/maroon shades though.

Out on the pitch, there is some rugby going on. Georgia kick to the corner and Wales are having to answer some questions in defence.

27 min: TMO has a look but no problem for Wales. Davies is off the hook because the ball went backwards off his hand. I think? Georgia look disappointed with that decision to say the least. On commentary they fancied it could well have been a yellow card. Good scenes for Georgia anyway, they are not going to roll over here.

25 min: Georgia! Front-rower Mamukashvilli storms through the Welsh ranks and suddenly Wales are stretched, for the first time in the match. Gareth Davies might now be in a bit of trouble for slapping down an attempted pass by No 6 Tkhilaishvili inside the 22, on the right-hand side.

25 min: Dan Biggar ... sort yourself out.

Hang on, he already has.

22 min: I have to say, this tasteful burgundy jersey/white shorts/burgundy socks Georgia kit is lovely. They try to smash through the middle, then there’s a good Welsh chargedown when Georgia opt to kick. But it comes to nothing for Wales.

18 min: Georgia fly-half Abzhandadze teases a kick to the right wing but it’s just overhit, and the initiative yet again is back with Wales. Ken Owens will take a line-out halfway inside the Wales half.

16 min: Sam Warburton said before the match that Wales should not be surprised to come in at half-time losing, or with less than seven points in it. He rightly expected Georgia to come out firing on all cylinders. But what are the odds of a seven-point game at half-time now?

10 min: Wales attack again, into the 22, but a good piece of work at the ruck by Kveseladze sees Davies pinged for holding on. Georgia have a chance to clear.

9 min: Jes Pickering has been in touch on email:

“Can you please ensure that any references to George North fulfil the immutable laws of Welsh rugby commentary, namely: a) his full name is always used – he is never just “North”; and b) his actual full name is “Big George North”.”

Understood, Jes. I will do my best.

5 min: After that TMO break, Wyn Jones confidently claimed a line-out, and it’s another good attacking platform for Wales. Georgia are penalised for offside and Wales will have a good chance to make it 8-0.

4 min: The TMO is having a look at an aerial challenge on Kveseladze by Josh Adams now, after a high kick was put up into the Georgia 22. It sounds like there will be no further action ... and indeed there isn’t.

1 min: Georgia spill the kick-off and it’s an attacking scrum early for Wales. They run it towards the left corner and Jonathan Davies’ has the ball ripped from his hands.

The teams walking out, from World Rugby’s Twitter:

“Land of My Fathers” is sung, and it’s lump-in-throat time for the players, for the fans, and certainly for Warren Gatland at his last tournament with the team.

Taiko drums welcome the teams on to the pitch and now it’s time for the anthems.

By the way, the referee tonight is Luke Pearce, from England, and his assistants are Ben O’Keeffe and Matthew Carley. Rowan Kitt is the TMO.

Gatland speaks: “The guys have been chomping at the bit ... we’re excited to be here tonight. We are concentrated on the rugby, the players have stepped up ... certain senior players have taken a huge amount of responsibility on themselves [after the Howley business] ... We know how strong Georgia are up front. We’ve got to go out there and implement our own game.”

How have the Six Nations teams gone so far?

Ireland were very impressive yesterday. Scotland and England, not so much.

France were very French, nearly throwing away a 17-point half-time lead in a classic against Argentina.

In a couple of hours, will Wales have announced themselves at this tournament in the same fine style as Ireland? What do you think of the selection? Do drop me a line.

Kick-off is in under 15 minutes from now.

A snap from the warm-up from the WRU:

Whatever happens at this tournament, Gatland’s time with Wales has been a sensation.

I remember his first Six Nations launch press conference in 2008. A journalist asked him how he’d approach the job. Gatland sat back, smiled and said: “We are just going to work our balls off.”

Gatland, speaking to ITV: “Success isn’t about winning competitions. It’s about over-achieving.”

There was a furore over the weekend regarding Reece Hodge’s high hit on Peceli Yato during Australia v Fiji.

Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika is complaining that John McKee, his Fiji counterpart, had a friendly chat after the match before referring Hodge for citation. How exactly does Cheika know Hodge had even watched the tape at that point?

“It has not often paid to bet against a team coached by Warren Gatland,” begins Paul Rees in his preview piece for this match. Have a read:

Gareth Anscombe has just poured some baby oil on a rugby ball, and Warburton and Thomas are now chucking it back-and-forth in the ITV Tactics Truck. Sorry, I mean the demonstration area.

On the subject of great banter, have a look at this:

Legendary back-rower and ex-captain Mamuka Gorgodze has come out of retirement for Georgia to appear at this tournament. They have never made the knockout stages, but they ignored the form guide to beat Tonga in 2015, thanks to tries from Gorgodze.

Alan Quinlan, speaking on ITV last night, recalled the time that Ireland nearly lost to Georgia back in 2007. Is there any danger of Welsh complacency? It seems highly unlikely. This should be a test.

Courtesy of World Rugby, here’s a Twitter video feature previewing the Welsh campaign.

Martyn Williams is excited, and says there will be plenty of people calling in sick in Wales today ...

In the ITV Studio today we have Gareth Anscombe, cruelly denied a chance to play at this tournament by injury, along with two previous captains: Sam Warburton and Gareth Thomas.

Thomas was in the headlines recently after announcing he is HIV positive. He completed an iron man triathlon soon after that. “I can walk now, which is good,” he says of the triathlon.

Please get in touch with any thoughts before, during or after the match, which will kick off at 11.15 BST. Email and Twitter links are at the top.

Preamble

Hello, and welcome to the fourth day of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. After a 100% record on Friday and Saturday, you probably forgot to fill in your tournament wall chart yesterday. No matter - we’ve got all the relevant details here.

Warren Gatland’s Wales clinched the third grand slam of his tenure in 2019, and as the New Zealander prepares to step down, fans’ expectation ahead of rugby’s showpiece event have surely never been higher. Captain Alun Wyn Jones personifies the combination of raw talent and work ethic that has turned Wales into such a force in the global game. He and his players are determined to send Gatland off in style.

They won’t underestimate Georgia, though, especially at scrum time. The Rob Howley controversy is fresh in Wales players’ minds - but could it make them even more determined to make this World Cup a success? We are about to find out.