The Eastern Europeans come into this one as big favourites with their books and their opponents will have to front up at the set piece if they are to avoid a big loss here.
Georgia v Portugal
Saturday 23 September
Stade Municipal
Georgia 1/10 | Draw 28/1 | Portugal 5/1
The Georgians will be targeting this game after a rather disappointing performance against Australia. While they did have their moments during the 35-15 defeat to the Wallabies, they will not be best pleased with how their much vaunted tight five performed at scrum-time and in the breakdown battle.
Nevertheless, there were positives to draw from that defeat to Eddie Jones’ men with Georgia only conceding two tries in the second stanza and running in two of their own. They looked far more assured with ball-in-hand during that second-half and they will be looking to attack with purpose from the outset this Saturday.
Portugal also gave a decent account of themselves in their opening fixture against Tier 1 opposition as they went down 28-8 to a somewhat understrength, yet vastly experienced Welsh side. A solid defensive effort saw the Wolves only 7-3 down in extra time of the first-half but a late Welsh try saw the scoreline inflated to 14-3 as the teams went in for oranges.
The Welsh would go on to score an early try in the second-half but Portugal fought back with a try from a very smart lineout move which would bring them within 13-points of the Dragons with 17-odd minutes to play. The would be held at arm’s length by the Welsh, however as the Dragons added a bit of gloss to the final scoreline with a 82nd-minute try.
I feel this Georgian pack will outmuscle the smaller Portuguese tight five as they did when they squared off in March this year and Georgia claimed a 27-point victory.
Verdict: Georgia (-22.5) 17/10
