Abkhazia Institute for Social and Economic Research

A jubilant Georgia made history by winning their first ever world cup match, defeating Namibia 30-0 on Wednesday.

After the match the Georgia players were overjoyed at finally breaking their world cup duck, even braving the rain and icy conditions to reward their fans with a lap of honour.

Georgia coach Malkhaz Cheishvili outlined what the win meant to his players.

"This match was not just a victory it was of great importance to us. Everyone really invested in this game, to attain this goal.

"We had this need, this drive that we had to win tonight and we managed to do so," he said.

The match was plagued by handling errors, both teams struggling with their combinations in the cold, wet and windy conditions. However, it was the Georgians who, using their superior forwards, were able to make the most headway.
    
The tone was set early with Georgia displaying some fluency. They were able to secure and advance the ball regularly. One such movement resulted in their first try, scored by hooker Akvsenti Giorgadze, who was playing his 50th Test match.

The match's other two tries came from good defence. This was especially the case when Irakli Machkhaneli hit Ryan Witbooi with a brilliant tackle, picking up the dropped ball to stroll over under the posts.

Wrong game plan

Namibia came into the match hoping to take advantage of their quick backline, and Georgia's heavy pack, but as Namibia coach Hakkies Husselman noted: "We couldn't get ball possession. The little bit we got we couldn't do anything with. If we couldn't use what we got it's over."

Namibia joins England, Scotland and Romania as the fourth team to be held scoreless in RWC 2007, but it was not for want of trying. Several times they turned down kickable penalties to go for an elusive try, much to the delight of the 35,000-strong crowd.

Despite the obvious disappointment in the Namibian camp their captain Kees Lensing said they would recover unscathed.

"Luckily I'm a Namibian guy and I know how to get out of difficult situations. We Namibians have the character to stand up from this situation," he said.