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Scotland run in five tries in Georgian success

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Rory Hutchinson helped himself to two tries on his first Scotland start as Gregor Townsend’s side beat Georgia 44-10 in Tbilisi.

Rory Hutchinson helped himself to two tries on his first Scotland start as Gregor Townsend’s side beat Georgia 44-10 in Tbilisi.

The Northampton Saints centre went over once in each half, with Scotland scoring five tries in total in a valuable run-out ahead of the World Cup.

Ben Toolis also crossed for his maiden Test try, while Darcy Graham went over in the second half, as did Scott Cummings.

Scotland enjoyed much of the ball in the opening stages and when Georgia strayed offside in their 22, Greig Laidlaw made no mistake to open up a 3-0 lead.

The breakdown was proving a productive area for Scotland, with Hamish Watson and Stuart McInally both earning penalties for holding on. And when Laidlaw was taken out behind a ruck, he jumped straight back up to double the advantage after 11 minutes.

While they led, Scotland had not really created any try-scoring opportunities, but when the first came, it was a beauty. Finn Russell spotted a gap in the midfield and ghosted through before feeding Matt Fagerson inside him. He in turn shipped the ball on to Laidlaw who unselfishly put Toolis over. The scrum-half added the simple extras.

And things got even better soon after when Hutchinson grabbed his first Test try on his maiden start, dancing through a couple of tackles after Graham had been stopped just short of the line on another break.

Georgia got themselves some territory thanks to a strong scrum, and eventually got on the board thanks to three points from the boot of Soso Matiashvili.

However Scotland were holding their own in the set-piece, WP Nel responding to earn a penalty shortly before half-time.

And they were able to work their way back into Georgian territory to earn another penalty, converted by Laidlaw, for a 23-3 half-time advantage.

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Hutchinson was the man to dot down again early in the second half after a beautifully-worked move off the back of a scrum. Russell pulled the strings and as the Georgian defence raced up, Hutchinson was able to glide through. Laidlaw’s conversion made it 30-3.

Georgia had struggled to get much of a foothold in the game, but from that point they finally enjoyed some extended possession. The Scottish defence held initially but eventually the pressure told and Karlen Asieshvili powered over minutes after coming on. Tedo Abzhandadze took on the kicking duties and added the extras.

That appeared to spark Scotland and they got their fourth try on 62 minutes, Graham getting on the end of a perfect grubber through by Russell.

And Cummings then imitated fellow lock Toolis in scoring his first Test try when he powered over late on, Adam Hastings adding the conversion.

The two teams will meet again next week at BT Murrayfield in Scotland’s final World Cup warm-up match.

Before then, Townsend will name his 31-man squad for the trip to Japan with a number of players having put their hands up in Georgia.