Rees Lightning blasted to the rescue of Wales as they ended up topping their group in style, but at a cost with their No 8 Taulupe Faletau out of the World Cup with a broken arm.
A hat-trick by Louis Rees-Zammit ensured there was no repeat of last year’s defeat at the hands of Georgia, who pulled back to within five points with 10 minutes to go.
At that point the pace of Rees-Zammit, scoring the second and third tries in his first hat-trick for Wales by following up kicks ahead, ensured there would be no shock in Nantes.
Unbeaten Wales, with 19 out of a possible 20 points, will face either Argentina or Japan in the quarter-finals next weekend – a very winnable route to a third semi-final under Warren Gatland.
It is a considerable turnaround from the depths of the last Six Nations with Gatland believing his players both deserve to get more credit and can also improve. The victory came after another early disruption, with Gareth Anscombe pulling out during the warm-up with a groin injury. Sam Costelow, one of the players who experienced the loss to Georgia last year, replaced him. It all means Gatland’s squad can be fascinated observers as Argentina and Japan face off .
“That will be a very tight game, they have different styles,” Gatland said. “It was a tough game today. Georgia are a good side who have been up at half-time in a couple of their games, but we got the job done, which is really pleasing. Toby has broken his arm so he is out. We will assess Gareth Anscombe over the next 72 hours after he pulled his groin very high up.
“We will look at a replacement for Faletau, whether that is a loose-forward or there are players in the backs after today’s game we may want to cover.”
Wales had revenge on their mind with last year’s shock 13-12 defeat in Cardiff fresh in the memory but only a handful of their players here had first-hand experience of that day. Wales had another reason to be wary with Nantes being the venue of one of their most notorious World Cup failures, losing to Fiji in 2007.
Although Georgia have not repeated their 2022 form in this World Cup, they travelled here with great confidence, which they showed in the opening exchanges. It was a trademark turnover for flanker Tommy Reffell that set up the position inside the Georgian 22 which led to the first try for Wales; a lineout and then a series of drives to the line and prop Tomas Francis charged over from short range.
A few minutes later, another penalty kick to the corner let the backs take over, with full-back Liam Williams waltzing over. Costelow converted both and then added a penalty to increase Welsh comfort levels.
That stung Georgia into action and they nearly went over breaking free from a lineout drive, but the ball was kept alive for captain and centre Merab Sharikadze to stretch out to the line to score his side’s first try, converted by Luka Matkava.
That gave Georgia – in their final game of the competition after losses to Australia and Fiji and a draw with Portugal – the confidence to start the second half strongly after bolstering the front row at half-time, but a loose pass went to George North and the Wales centre was able to put Rees-Zammit clear for a 60-yard run to the line. Costelow added the straightforward conversion and Bread of Heaven replaced the techno-pop blaring round the Stade de la Beaujoire.
However, the Georgia changes, four of the front five within a few minutes of half-time, meant they got the upper hand up front and forced Wales to also change their whole front row. Georgia’s right-wing Akaki Tabutsadze was just squeezed out in the corner by some desperate defence. The replacement hooker Vano Karkadze barged his way over from close range to keep things interesting.
That was followed by a moment of magic by Davit Niniashvili, running a try in from 40 yards with a dive over the line that was every bit as extravagant as the break itself.
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It was the pace of Rees-Zammit that eased Welsh nerves. He was the first person to reach a Liam Williams chip ahead when Wales kept the ball in hand. That was followed by a mass brawl that led to Taine Basham and Niniashvili receiving yellow cards.
The final quarter featured closing tries by Rees-Zammit and North that put an unfair gloss on the scoreline.
