Pumas eye RWC quarters after Georgia rout

A three-try blitz in seven minutes just after the break, with Georgia captain Mamuka Gorgodze in the sin bin, gave the Pumas some breathing space and secured the bonus point. Now, Argentina will face Georgia on Friday.

Lock Tomas Lavanini had scored Argentina’s first try in the ninth minute effort.

Tries from Martin Landajo, Cordero and Imhoff took the Pumas over 50 points.

Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade: “We were really in need of a win like this”.

Prediction: Argentina will win today match.

Lasha Malaguradze went close with a drop-goal effort as Georgia, with hard-tackling Clermont flanker Viktor Kolelishvili and Toulon No 8 Gorgodze to the fore, pressed in the run-up to half-time, Argentina’s well-drilled defence holding firm.

“It’s a great honour to coach against them”.

Argentina will not be swayed from their dream of reaching the Rugby World Cup summit after losing to the All Blacks in their opening match, captain Agustín Creevy said.

Impressive full-back Merab Kvirikashvili brought Georgia to within two points with two penalties before he and Sanchez traded further kicks after the half-hour mark as the Georgians closed the half very much in the game. Attitude is something that’s never lacking in this team, we’d have liked to get a bigger lead. “They still won reasonably comfortably in the end, but that first 60 minutes was a bit of a ding-dong battle”.

But it was No. 8 Mamuka Gorgodze’s careless sin-bin early in the second half that tipped the scales. Both the teams with possessive attitude and aggressive mindset will be there to play against each other to get a top position in the point table of Rugby World Cup 2015.

54 – despite the one-sided scoreline, Argentina only enjoyed 54% of possession and 56% of territory.

In 2013, Georgia hosted the inaugural World Rugby Tbilisi Cup, which has tested the nation’s younger developing players against their Tier 1 counterparts, including Argentina, Ireland and Italy.

Argentina: J Tuculet; S Cordero, M Bosch, J-M Hernandez (J de la Fuente 36), J Imhoff; N Sanchez (L Amorosino 64), T Cubelli (M Landajo 57); M Ayerza (L Paz 67), A Creevy (capt, J Montoya 62), N Tetaz Chaparro (R Herrera 57), M Alemanno, T Lavanini, J Leguizamon (P Matera 57), J-M Fernandez Lobbe (J Ortega Desio 64), F Isa. Pens: Nicolas Sanchez 2.