Georgia scored 17 unanswered points in the second half to defeat Samoa 27-19 in Tbilisi on Saturday.

Samoa had all the momentum in the first half as they took a 19-10 lead, but Georgia came back strongly after the break to gain the ascendancy and secure the win.

An early penalty saw the hosts go 3-0 up, but Samoa shredded the Georgia defence with ease to run in three tries, of which Tusi Pisi converted two, for a 16-point advantage. But scrumhalf Vasil Lobzhanidze snuck through late in the half and placed the ball at the base of the post for a try to bring the deficit down to nine.

The opening 20 minutes of the second half was an arm-wrestle, but Georgia seized control in the final quarter to engineer their fightback.

Two converted tries in the space of six minutes put Georgia back in the lead at 24-19 before a late penalty saw them go two scores ahead.

And it was enough, as Samoa were unable to make any more inroads in the last eight minutes of the game.

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Georgia – Tries: Vasil Lobzhanidze, TBC (2). Conversions: TBC (3). Penalty: TBC (2).
Samoa – Tries: Jamie-Jerry Taulagi, Teofilo Paulo, Ahsee Tuala. Conversions: Tusi Pisi (2).