England - 84 Georgia - 6 The Bath scrum-half Martyn Wood flies to Australia today as potential cover for England after, to nobody's surprise, they racked up the highest score of this fledgling World Cup yesterday.
Between now and when they face South Africa on Saturday, Clive Woodward will be preoccupied by a deepening scrum-half crisis, with Matt Dawson and Kyran Bracken both undergoing further fitness checks today. Dawson suffered a knock to his left knee and limped off in the first half while Bracken was forced to withdraw from bench duty with a bad back.
With Andy Gomarsall also hobbling away down the tunnel at the end and Austin Healey, who was unfit for Leicester club duty at the weekend with a sore calf, informing Woodward last night that he is not 100 per cent fit, a startled Wood has received the call. The England management stress the Yorkshireman is not yet a formal member of their squad but will be if Bracken and Dawson cannot prove their fitness by Thursday.
"We will monitor the situation regarding Matt and Kyran before taking any final decisions," insisted Woodward last night, confirming Bracken had reported something wrong upon waking yesterday, a condition to which the Saracens man is not exactly a stranger. The coach insisted Dawson had been "walking around the dressing-room fine" after the game but England must also await tests on the fitness of Mike Tindall, who also limped off with a calf strain.
A winning total of over 70 seems par for the course in the majority of matches in Pool C but until they face the Springboks at this venue Woodward's side will draw few firm conclusions from yesterday.
Given the injuries, it was no surprise to hear England's management and players giving Georgia credit, regardless of the scoreline, for the physical test they offered. At no stage were the Georgians embarrassed but their tackle-count of 154 compared to England's 40 told its own story. The way the game is currently set up there are very few ways the honest battler can match the fitter, better-drilled professional side without giving away penalties and the penalty count duly finished 21 to five in favour of the victors. As many more will discover playing rugby without the ball is a thankless slog.
England's challenge, in contrast, was to find the best way around dogged opponents once it became clear they would not be enjoying much joy down the middle. The best of their 12 tries was possibly Ben Cohen's second, a marvellous little quick-step which left his marker completely bamboozled as he sped away down the left wing. The biggest surprise, in turn, was the 76 minutes it took Jason Robinson to get his name on the scoresheet, while the biggest cheer went to Will Greenwood, who took a painful blow to a delicate part of his anatomy in scoring his second try after which he put an exploratory hand down his shorts and raised two fingers to an amused crowd.
As Greenwood also acknowledged, however, England's job would have been much trickier had the tropical storm which left Perth's streets awash 90 minutes before kick-off arrived slightly later. Instead of a rainy night in Georgia's favour, it was a cool, still evening with little to disrupt England's progress, making it a tribute to the muscular minnows that England took some time to settle.
Given the Georgians had spent a fair chunk of their tournament build-up in Clancy's Fish Pub, a local establishment which decided to set itself up as their alternative headquarters and has been selling pints of Tblisi bitter, this was also a minor triumph for old-style rugby conditioning. Jason Leonard, whose replacement appearance took him past Philippe Sella's world record of 111 caps if his five Lions Tests are included, looked almost lightweight by comparison but once Tindall had moved smartly on to Jonny Wilkinson's miss-pass in the 14th minute the punishment began.
By the time Wilkinson was substituted by Paul Grayson in the sixth minute of the second half England already had five tries and their fly-half had landed an immaculate seven kicks from seven attempts, converting not only Tindall's try but further sharp-witted efforts from Dawson, Steve Thompson, Neil Back and a pushover try for Lawrence Dallaglio. Grayson, to his disappointment, could convert only four of the seven scores which followed, Mark Regan and Dan Luger extending the number of different English try-scorers to 10.
"Are you disappointed with us?" Georgia's coach Claude Saurel asked rhetorically at the post-match press conference. "We did the best we could." So they did and Georgia versus Uruguay in Sydney on October 28 will be worth watching. Georgia will even be marginal favourites but, in this two-tier tournament, everything is relative.
ENGLAND: Lewsey; Robinson, Tindall (Luger, 35), Greenwood, Cohen; Wilkinson (Grayson, 46), Dawson (Gomarsall, 35); Woodman, Thompson (Regan, h-t), Vickery (Leonard, 50), Johnson (capt), Kay, Hill (Moody, 50), Back, Dallaglio. Tries: Tindall, Dawson, Thompson, Back, Dallaglio, Greenwood 2, Regan, Cohen 2, Robinson, Luger. Cons: Wilkinson 5, Grayson 4. Pens: Wilkinson 2.
GEORGIA: Khamashuridze (Khekhelashvili, 76); Urjukashvili, Zibzibadze, Giorgadze, Katsadze (capt); Jimsheladze (Kvirakashvili, 75), Abuseridze; Shvelidze, Giorgadze (Dadunashvili, 73), Margvelashvili (Nikolaenko, h-t), Mitchedlishvili, Didebulidze, Labadze, Yachvili (Bolgashvili, 67), Chkhaidze. Pens: Urjukashvili, Jimsheladze.
Referee: P Deluca (Argentina).
