Cardiff Rugby U18 skipper Alfie Prygodzicz came to Wales rescue as he ripped the ball away from a Georgian driving maul a metre out from the line and then kicked to half-way to allow his side to hang on for a 17-10 victory in Vichy.
It was a hard-fought triumph that made it two wins from two for the Welsh team, who beat Ireland in their first game and will complete their Six Nations U18 Festival campaign with a revenge mission against Italy on Friday.
The Italians, who pipped Cerrig Smith’s side in a warm-up match in atrocious conditions in L’Aquila before the tournament, were beaten 46-20 on Game Day 2 having beaten Georgia 37-24 in their opening fixture.
The powerful Georgians opened the scoring with a classic driving line out try before Wales leveled with a corner try from Brogan Leary that Lloyd Lucas improved. It remained 7-7 at the break, although only a marginal call for a forward pass denied Noah Morgan a try on the stroke of half-time.
Wales created plenty of opportunities to score and Leary was denied another try for a forward pass. Then the Welsh forwards were held up on the line before knocking on and hooker Tiaan Hall was penalised for a dummy throw at a five metre line out.
Smith’s side kept knocking on the door but found the Georgian defence very much up to the mark as they thwarted the Welsh raiders time after time. Then Wales were penalized for jumping across a line out on the 10 metre line and Georgian full back nailed his kick to put his side ahead with 19 minutes to play.
It was time for cool heads and a great charge by replacement back row man Noah Williams took Wales into the 22. There were Georgian hands all over him and from the resultant penalty Lucas made it 10-10.
A Tom Howe charge from a line-out move took Wales back into the Georgian 22, but they lost the ball a few metres out. Then, from a scrum on the left edge of the 22, Jack Harrison and Williams made the dents and from a ruck on the line scrum half Luca Woodyatt picked up and dived over.
Lucas added the extras to give Wales the lead for the first time in the 61st minute and then his Glantaf schoolmate Prygodzicz performed his great ripping as the Georgians seemed certain to score to secure the victory.
SCORERS
Wales: Tries: Brogan Leary, Luca Woodyatt; Cons: Lloyd Lucas 2; Pen: Lloyd LucasTEAM
Wales U18: Ben Coomer (Cardiff); Brogan Leary (Dragons), Jack Harrison (Bath), Jack Hoskins (Ospreys), Rhys Cummings (Cardiff); Lloyd Lucas (Cardiff), Luca Woodyatt (Gloucester); George Leyland (Bristol Bears), Tiaan Hall (Dragons), Jayden Maybank (Ospreys), Kai Jones (Scarlets),Gabe Williams (Cardiff), Morgan Crew (Yorkshire Academy), Tiehi Chatham (Dragons), Cerrig Smith (Dragons, captain)
Replacements: Dylan Barrett (Cardiff), Tom Howe (Cardiff), Nathan Davies (Scarlets), Osian Williams (Bristol Bears), Alfie Prygodzicz (Cardiff), Carter Pritchard (Dragons), Carwyn Leggatt-Jones (Scarlets), Rhys Cole (Dragons). Noah Morgan (Dragons), Bailey Cutts (Cardiff), Noah Williams (Bristol Bears)