Potent Rawlins helps England U18s bounce back with victory over Georgia
England overcame a shaky first half to score 17 unanswered second half points to beat an impressive Georgia 27-20 as Jonathan Pendlebury's side now turn their attention to their final match on tour against hosts South Africa on Monday.
Following a disappointing 42-28 loss to Ireland on Monday, Pendlebury's juniors trailed 20-5 in the closing stages of the first half but a try on the half time buzzer by Oscar Thomas and a much improved, dominant second half performance ensured victory thanks to Saracens outside centre Fraser Rawlins' brace of scores.
Georgia were shoehorned into the tournament with short notice after France's withdrawal following the tragic news that player Medhi Narjissi had gone missing after being caught in a rip tide whilst swimming off the beach near Cape Town.
They suffered a 20-3 loss on day one of the series against tournament hosts South Africa but their victory over France in this year's Six Nations Festival shows they shouldn't be underestimated and England head coach Pendlebury will be relieved his side avoided a potential banana skin on Friday.
England took the lead as Saracens fly-half Finn Keylock produced a delightful dink in behind the defence which allowed quick hands out wide for Sarries winger Noah Caluori to touch down with a wicked step and reach for the line.
Georgia hit back with a neat strike off the tee by Gigi Sirbiladze and were moments later ahead as a clever switch play off a scrum saw full back Nikolozi Khalvashi beat four defenders and slid over for an early Georgian lead.
Mercurial captain Sirbiladze delivered an excellent crossfield kick to assist Givi Soselia in scoring and Georgia then had their third try just after the half hour mark as a speedy lineout move caught England napping with winger Saba Sharvashidze touching down.
England were staring down the barrel of back-to-back defeats but scored an important try on the stroke of half time as Bath hooker Thomas went over from a driving maul.
Pendlebury's side started the second half much better with an increased speed of ball and clever hands by the backline allowing Rawlins in to score.
Bath fly-half James Linegar made an excellent cameo off the bench and his clutch conversion reduced the deficit to three points.
Rawlins then stepped his way through the Georgian defence as England took the lead courtesy of his second try.
The deadeye Linegar slotted a late penalty which showed how seriously England were taking the fixture as their lead was increased to seven points.
A late Georgia penalty meant the ball was sent to the corner and a rolling maul was set with virtually the whole of the Georgian team in it but the England forward pack managed to secure a turnover and deny a grandstand finish.
The wild celebrations from England's players showed how much the win meant and they will now be full of confidence ahead of their crunch clash against South Africa.
ENGLAND: Morrow, Caluori, Rawlins, Ward, Nunn, Keylock, Newman; Dye, Thomas, Ayiehfor, Murphy, Balding, Williams, Treacey, Branch-Holland
Replacements: Davis, Kitenge-Fuki, Beere, Ainsworth-Cave, Hull, Marshall, Stewart-Harris, Linegar, Champain, Worsnip, Winters
GEORGIA: Khalvashi, Sharvashidze, Saldadze, Barbakadze, Soselia, Sirbiladze, Tsiklauri; Olkishvili, Archvadze, Ezieshvili, Baramia, Chkhortolia, Gabunia, Saginadze, Shioshvili
Replacements: Shvelidze, Chelidze, Nozadze, Meparishvili, Zazadze, Ushveridze, Dzodzuashvili, Basialai, Araviashvili, Kipshidze, Ardzenadze
Star man: Fraser Rawlins – England
Written by Ben Jaycock
