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File photo: Finn Russell after the win over France. Ian Rutherford
Power of Scotland

Scotland build World Cup form with six-try win in Georgia

Finn Russell was in great form, with a hand in five of his side’s tries.

OUT-HALF FINN Russell starred as Scotland hammered Georgia 44-10 in a Rugby World Cup warm-up Test in Tbilisi.

Russell played a part in all but one of the visitors’ six tries in a fixture which marked the first time a tier-one nation played a Test in the eastern European nation.

Centre Rory Hutchinson crossed twice to secure a second straight victory for Gregor Townsend’s side after losing to France a fortnight ago.

The visitors raced into a 6-0 lead after 12 minutes with two Laidlaw penalty goals and they made the most of their early dominance as Russell showed his quality against a sluggish defensive line.

His break after 14 minutes ended with second-row Ben Toolis scoring. The Racing 92 fly-half then set up Hutchinson five minutes later for the centre’s first Test try and the lead was 20-0 after 19 minutes.

The home side claimed their first points of proceedings with a 40-metre penalty from full-back Soso Matiashvili before Laidlaw then re-established the 20-point on the troke of half-time.

BSG SPORT / YouTube

Northampton midfielder Hutchinson, starting his first international, scored his second of the game eight minutes into the second half.

Georgia’s crossed through substitute Kakha Asiseshvili with the prop’s first touch after 58 minutes.

Fly-half Tedo Abzhandadze added the extras but Scotland led 30-10 with a quarter of the game to play.

Russell was again the key in the away side’s fourth try. His neat grubber kick was collected by Darcy Graham for the winger’s fourth try in six Tests and the 10 was replaced after slotting the touchline conversion with 15 minutes remaining.

Scotland’s fifth try came as back-up scrum-half Ali Price took a quick penalty and Scott Cummings crashed over from short range on the 74-minute mark.

The two sides face each other once again next Friday in their final warm-up game ahead of the start of the World Cup, where Scotland begin with a clash against Ireland.

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