Rugby: England stutter in defeat of Georgia

Chris Ashton (R) of England scores their sixth try. Photo / Getty Images

England 41
Georgia 10

England chalked up victory number two in their World Cup campaign but were again far from convincing.

England ran out 41-10 winners over Georgia at a noisy Otago Stadium in Dunedin, but was a flattering winner, with the Georgians dominating both territory and possession.

England had scrapped out a win at the same venue eight days ago against Argentina, and once again there were plenty of holes in its game.

The English had little ball to play with and were on the wrong end of referee Jonathan Kaplan's whistle.

They sealed the win in the last 20 minutes but coach Martin Johnson will be worried about the first hour, which was inaccurate and sloppy at times. A better team than Georgia would put them to the sword.

If Georgian goalkicker Merab Kvirikashvili had his radar working - he missed five penalty shots in the first hour - it could have been quite a contest.

Best for the winners was loose forward James Haskell while captain Lewis Moody made an encouraging return from injury.

Big centre Manu Tuilagi ran hard and scored a nice try while his midfield partner Shontayne Hape looked good in most things.

Most impressive for Georgia was halfback and skipper Irakli Abuseridze while flanker Mamuka Gorgodze took no prisoners.

The Georgians almost scored early on with winger Irakli Machkhaneli, playing his 50th test, just pushed out in the corner.

But by the time the Georgians finally did get on the board through a Kvirikashvili penalty, the English were two tries ahead, with former Kiwi Hape getting them both.

His first was a sprint from halfway after just three minutes while his second was from a dart at the line from five metres out.

England looked good when it got the ball but was punished by referee Kaplan who dished out 11 penalties against them in the opening 40 minutes.

Right on halftime, Kaplan had enough and sent hooker Dylan Hartley for a spell on the sideline as the English infringed while defending its line.

The Georgians took the resulting scrum and impressive No 8 Dimitri Basilaia charged over to score.

England 41 (Shontayne Hape 2, Chris Ashton 2, Delon Armitage, Manu Tuilagi tries; Toby Flood 4 con, pen)Georgia: 10 (Dimitri Basilaia try, Merab Kvirikashvili pen, con)
Halftime: 17-10 Crowd: 20,117