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Jake Ball

Jake Ball was acclaimed as the Man of the Match in Wales' win against Georgia

Wales v Georgia: Reaction

It was Wales’ seventh win in nine opening matches at the Rugby World Cup and the third highest opening tally of tries after the eight against Uruquay in the 54-9 triumph in 2015 in Cardiff and the seven against Japan in a 57-10 win in Bloemfontein in 1995.

The 29-0 first-half scoreline was the best in an opening World Cup match since 1995 when Wales were leading 36-0 at the break. The bonus point took them to the top of the pool and now all eyes move to Sunday’s clash with the Wallabies – a team Wales haven’t beaten at the World Cup since the third place play-off game in 1987.

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This is what the main men had to say after the game:

Warren Gatland:
“It was a good first-half but a little bit messy in the second. That ball was pretty slippery out there and we were conscious with the six day turnaround that we needed to bring on some fresh legs and look after some players.

“Georgia came pretty hard at us in the second-half and defended a lot better. Overall I’m pretty pleased and pretty happy with the bonus point win.

“Given that the side we were up against we had to back ourselves to go out and score some points. It was pleasing to score three set-piece tries.

“We also missed out on a couple of other opportunities as well. Holding them scoreless to half-time was good but to concede two tries in the second-half was a bit disappointing.

“It’s a massive game for us this weekend against Australia. We’ve only got a six day turnaround and Australia are going to be a tough proposition.

“We’ve had some real close contests with them in recent years and we were lucky enough to come out on top last autumn. But this is the World Cup and we need to make sure we are primed and ready to go against a quality side.”

Alun Wyn Jones:
“We came out of the blocks as we wanted in the first-half but we are probably going to be a bit disappointed with the second-half. We let a couple of tries in and we didn’t really continue in a similar vein.

“It’s a good result but there’s plenty to work on. There’s always an air of precaution but the overall feeling is that we probably took our foot off the gas in the second-half.”

Jake Ball (Man of the match):
“Georgia made it tough for us to get points in this game. We are very pleased to get off to winning ways and all our concentration now moves to the Australia game.

“We spoke about starting well before the game. It was great and we got off to a very good start.
“It was good to get the win. What a fantastic place to play rugby.

“I thought the crowd were fantastic tonight. A big thanks to all the travelling Wales fans and all the Japanese supporters who came out as well.”

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