Georgia claimed their first-ever World Cup victory as they defeated Namibia in wet conditions in Lens.

Merab Kvirikashvili landed two penalties and converted Akvsenti Guiorgadze’s try to put the Lelos 13-0 up at the break.

Kvirikashvili then kicked a third penalty and a conversion after Irakli Machkhaneli engineered a fine solo try.

The Georgians added a third converted try when Davit Kacharava intercepted and raced clear at the death.

Georgia won the inaugural meeting between the two sides 26-18 in June and they had the upper hand from the first whistle in northern France on Wednesday night.

Namibia, in the south west of Africa, is generally hot and dry and their national side had reportedly not played in the rain for over 30 years.

Georgia looked more comfortable from the start and they opened the scoring in the seventh minute after inside centre Irakli Giorgadze burst through the Namibian midfield.

Namibia infringed at the resulting ruck and fly-half Kvirikashvili, who plays for French second division side Pau, landed the penalty.

Namibia were struggling to get into the game and when they failed to find touch Malkhaz Urjukashvili counter attacked and took Georgia deep into Namibia territory.

After a couple of phases they moved the ball to Kvirikashvili but his grubber kick between the posts ran dead before any of the Georgian chasers could get to it.

The fly-half missed a second penalty after 23 minutes but two minutes later he was on target to give them a 6-0 lead.

Georgia rarely looked threatened but right winger Giorgi Shkinin’s inability to cope with any ball kicked at him was proving a handicap.

When he dropped his third kick in a row it put the Eastern Europeans in deep trouble and they conceded a penalty for holding on at a ruck.

It was the first time Namibia had had a sniff of any points but fly-half Tertius Losper pushed his kick wide.

Georgia were soon back on the attack and they took a decisive grip on the game when hooker Guiorgadze drilled his way over from close range after a pulverising drive by the Lelos pack.

Kvirikashvili converted to give Georgia a commanding 13-0 lead at the break and although he missed a penalty early in the second half they continued to dominate both territory and possession.

It took Namibia 20 minutes to get out of their half but their brief flurry came to nothing as they become just the fourth team – after England, Romania and Scotland – to fail to trouble the scorers in the tournament.

A third penalty from Kvirikashvili put Georgia 16-0 ahead and he added the conversion after Machkhaneli scored a superb solo try.

The powerful Georgia left wing hit Namibia full-back Heini Bock with a thunderous tackle before picking up the loose ball and racing clear to score under the posts.

Namibia tried to end the match on a high but their adventure played into the hands of outside centre Kacharava, whose interception try ensured they would be dancing in the streets of Tblisi.

Georgia coach Malkhaz Cheishvili has made eight changes to his starting line-up as his side chase their first World Cup victory.Scrum-half Irakli Abuseridze is captain following the retirement of lock Ilia Zedginidze with a knee injury.

Namibia skipper Kees Lensing returns to the front row after a toe injury.

Jacques Nieuwenhuis, sent off for a high tackle on France’s Sebastien Chabal, has completed a one-match ban and is named at blind-side flanker.

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Georgia: M Urjukashvili; I Machkhaneli, D Kacharava, I Giorgadze, G Shkininl; M Kvirikashvili, I Abuseridze (c); G Shvelidze, A Giorgadze, D Zirakashvili, L Datunashvili, M Gorgodze, G Labadze, R Urushadze, G Chkhaidze.
Replacements: D Khinchagashvili, A Kopaliani, V Didebulidze, B Udesiani, B Samkharadze, R Gigauri, B Khamashuridze.

Namibia: H Bock; R Witbooi, P van Zyl, C Powell, B Langenhoven; T Losper, E Jantjies; K Lensing (captain), H Horn, M Visser, W Kazombiaze, H Senekal, J Nieuwenhuis, J Burger, T du Plessis.
Replacements: J Meyer, J Redelinghuys, J du Toit, N Esterhuize, J van Tonder, M Africa, M Schreuder.

Argentina powered to a bonus-point win over Namibia in Marseille to keep alive their hopes of topping Pool D.

The Pumas started slowly but Patricio Albacete, Juan Manuel Leguizamon and Manuel Contepomi scored in the first half to quell the eager Namibians.

Felipe Contepomi added a fourth soon after the break and the floodgates opened as Argentina’s flowing 15-man rugby proved too much for Namibia.

The Pumas will win the group with a bonus point against Ireland on Sunday.

Ireland, meanwhile, must beat Argentina by more than seven points and score a bonus point to progress, a result which would also see France top the group if they score a bonus-point victory over Georgia.

“It was important to get a bonus. We’re still out there and next week against Ireland will be tough,” said Pumas skipper Agustin Pichot.

“Namibia were always going to give their best – that’s rugby, that’s good. We worked hard and we kept our composure and we finished well.”

The winners of Pool D will meet the runners-up from Pool C – likely to be Scotland or Italy – in Paris on 7 October, with the runners-up playing the likely group C winners New Zealand in Cardiff on 6 October.
 
Amid a carnival atmosphere in the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, the spirited Namibians took an early lead with a Morne Schreuder penalty but Argentina drew level through Felipe Contepomi after nine minutes.

The attritional opening stalemate, in which Namibia more than held their own, looked to have been punctured after a period of mounting Argentine dominance.

The Pumas recycled from a close-range maul and Felipe Contepomi slid through a grubber kick for his brother Manuel to chase, but his sibling was unable to control the ball in the grounding and Namibia were let off the hook.

Felipe Contepomi slotted another three-pointer shortly after and then Argentina’s pressure paid off when lock Albacete claimed the try from a pile-up on the Namibia line.

Ten minutes later, Namibia’s resistance showed the first signs of terminal decline when Argentine number eight Leguizamon picked up from the base of a scrum and muscled his way over on the blind-side.

Argentina were swaying to their building rhythm and Manuel Contepomi got on the scoresheet when he capped a sweeping move into the left corner for a convincing lead at the interval.

The Pumas should have claimed their bonus point for four tries not long after the break but full-back Ignacio Corleto flung a wild pass into the stands with the touchline gaping.

But Felipe Contepomi made amends when he slipped through a hole in the Namibian defence minutes later to score under the posts.

That was that as a contest, and Argentina ran in five more tries through Leguizamon, Gonzalo Tiesi, Corleto, substitute Federico Todeschini and a penalty try to serve further notice that they are a growing force at this World Cup.

Nambibian coach Hakkies Husselman admitted it was a step too far for his mainly part-time side.

“They played very professionally against us, but it was too far for us,” said Husselman, who at 34 is the youngest coach at the World Cup.

Husselman, who played at the last World Cup for Namibia, said that beating Georgia in their final group match is their goal.

“We really want to win that game,” he added.

Scrum-half Agustin Pichot returns from injury to captain Argentina in Saturday’s game against Namibia.Pumas coach Marcelo Loffreda said: “We have enough evidence that he is at 100% and that he can play.”

The Pumas’ reserve fly-half Federico Todeschini has also shrugged off a calf injury to be named on the bench.

The Pool D leaders will start with Felipe Contepomi in the number 10 shirt because Stade Francais star Juan Martin Hernandez is injured.

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Argentina: Corleto; Senillosa, Tiesi, M Contepomi, Agulla; F Contepomi, Pichot (capt); Leguizamon, JM Fernandez Lobbe, Ostiglia, Albacete, CI Fernandez Lobbe, Hasan, Alberto Basualdo, Rodrigo Roncero.

Replacements: Ledesma, Scelzo, Kairelis, Longo, Miranda, Todeschini, Miras.

Hosts France got their stuttering World Cup campaign back on track by recording the largest win in their history.

They scored 13 tries against a Namibia side reduced to 14 men after 20 minutes when Jacques Nieuwenhuis was sent off for a high tackle on Sebastien Chabal.

Cedric Heymans, David Marty, Thierry Dussatoir, Lionel Nallet (2) and Vincent Clerc crossed before the break.

And Julien Bonnaire, Chabal (2), Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Clerc (2) and Raphael Ibanez added further tries.

France are engaged in a three-way fight with Argentina and Ireland for the two quarter-final places in Pool D and they had no margin for error after their 17-12 defeat by the Pumas which opened the tournament.

Ireland’s subsequent struggles to beat both Georgia and Namibia will have given a boost to the hosts’ shattered confidence.

And with Ireland failing to secure a bonus point in either match the bonus point France earned by scoring four tries on Sunday could prove vital.

 Toulouse is the biggest city in the French rugby heartland in the south west of the country and Les Bleus played with real joie de vivre in front of their passionate fans.

Heymans had been horribly exposed at full-back as Argentina rained high kicks down on him in the first night disaster in Paris, but he was back on the wing on Sunday and grabbed the first try after seven minutes.

The Toulouse crowd greeted the score rapturously and although Namiabia fly-half Emile Wessels soon trimmed the gap as he popped over a sweetly-struck drop-goal, there remained plenty to keep the home faithful happy.

Marty scored the second try after a sublime piece of deception from former Toulouse fly-half Frederic Michalak, who is heading to South African side the Sharks, sparked a long-range attack.

Elissalde, who failed with his first conversion attempt, made no mistake with the extras and France led 12-3.

Any distant hopes Namibia had of upsetting the hosts soon suffered a hammer blow as number eight Nieuwenhuis, who had already been spoken to by the referee for a high tackle, was sent off after laying out Chabal.

Dussatoir was driven over after France kicked the penalty to the corner and they added three more tries before the break.

Clerc skated over in between a brace from giant Castres second row Nallet, and four Elissalde conversions meant the hosts led 40-3 at half-time with the bonus point already safely tucked away.

Soon after the re-start the France pack drove the seven-man Namibia pack back over their own line to hand a push-over try to Bonnaire before Chabal, who has become a French folk hero in recent months, exploded into life.

First he pouched Elissalde’s cute kick from a penalty to open his account before bursting clear from the halfway line and brushing off three men to score the most popular try of the night.

The fiesta continued until just before the final whistle with Elissalde, Clerc, who grabbed a quick-fire brace, and Ibanez all crossing.

The final word went to Namibia as centre Bradley Langenhoven grabbed an interception try, which was converted by Tertius Losper, in the last minute.

But, with Elissalde including 11 conversions in his personal haul of 27 points, France recorded their record win and they will go into Friday’s crunch match against Ireland in a far more positive frame of mind.