Levan Maisashvili | We expect more surprises from Wales

A few days passed since the England match in which Georgia showed better performance than three weeks earlier against Scotland. According to statistics, the ball possession was at 55%-45% in favour of England, which for us is an improvement from the previous game. The team looked better in defence and was more disciplined.

After recovery and analysis, Levan Maisashvili assesses the Autumn Nations Cup opener against England and compares it to the previous clash against Scotland:

“We controlled the ball more against England than with Scotland, but unfortunately it did not reflect on the final score and we are very disappointed for this. Game management still remains our main issue, which is logical against such strong opposition as England is. If we had made correct decisions, we would have scored points as we had one or two good moments during the game. But we failed to grab that moment.

“Unfortunately, we are still weak about set-piece and static phases – we failed to kick to touch from penalty three times, and twice from our 22. Possibly due to nervousness and lack of experience. We have to learn to use those chances to score, as we won’t have many chances like that against strong oppositions. There have been enough opportunities against England, but we failed to use them.”

“Also we crossed the gain line several times, but could not do anything after that. That’s maybe because we sometimes lack that boldness with much stronger teams, as different from the teams we usually play at Rugby Europe Championship. Games against strong oppositions should bring the experience and that boldness which should allow us to pressure such opponents.”

“All things considered, we were slightly better in maul compared to Scotland game, but this still remains a challenge for us. We have more time to train during this week and I am sure there will be some progress.

“I also have to mention that the team had turned several difficult attacks from England, including one from a 5-meter scrum in our 22. And the boys showed some physical and mental resilience as well. There also are improvements in terms of discipline. This game taught us a good lesson and this experience will definitely help us.”

We expect more surprises from Wales

In the second round of the Autumns Nations Cup, Georgia will play against Wales in Llanelli on November 21. Talking about the upcoming game, Levan Maisashvili notes that Wales will exercise more options in the attack:

“I expect Wales to be more diverse in their attacks than they usually are. Although the Welsh team is practically the same as at the last Rugby World Cup, and though they don’t look as good as they used to, we should not let ourselves be misguided by their latest results – they have way more options in attack compared to England and we should expect more surprises in static phases, so we have to think more about defence too.”