England sound early warning

England 84 Georgia 6

England swamped World Cup minnows Georgia at Subiaco Oval today as they began their quest for rugby union’s ultimate prize in 12-try fashion.

Georgia proved to be brave, battling opponents and they relished the forward combat, but England had far too much pace, power and invention.

It was not a classic English display ahead of next Saturday’s probable Pool C decider against South Africa, yet they still scored several sparkling tries.

Wing Ben Cohen led the way with two quickfire second-half scores, and there were also touchdowns for Will Greenwood (2), Steve Thompson, Jason Robinson, Neil Back, Lawrence Dallaglio, Matt Dawson, Mike Tindall, Dan Luger and Mark Regan.

Fly-half Jonny Wilkinson, substituted after 46 minutes as England boss Clive Woodward made full use of the replacements’ bench, kicked 16 points, while substitute Paul Grayson slotted four conversions.

Georgia never threatened to breach England’s defence in front of a 25,500-strong crowd, with their points coming from penalties by wing Malkhaz Urjukashvili and fly-half Paliko Jimsheladze.

England, 1,000-1 on favourites to make a winning World Cup start, encountered spirited Georgian resistance in the initial stages, with Urjukashvili cancelling out a Wilkinson strike.

It took the Six Nations champions 14 minutes to breach the Georgian defence, and it was a simply-worked move, ending with Tindall powering over.

Wilkinson converted, and was also on hand five minutes later to add the extra points when Dallaglio broke off the back of a scrum to provide Dawson with a scoring pass.

At 17-3 adrift, Georgia were in danger of folding, but they stuck to their task admirably – especially at scrum and lineout time – even though Thompson and Back added further touchdowns in quick succession.

England led 34-3 at the interval – Wilkinson slotted four conversions and two penalties – and Woodward began the second period with three substitutes on the field in wing Luger, hooker Regan and scrum-half Andy Gomarsall.

England continued to exploit their forward superiority in the second period, and after Dallaglio claimed an inevitable pushover try, Greenwood, Regan and Cohen – after he caught Grayson’s well-placed crosskick – confirmed complete control.

Cohen showed his world-class finishing ability with a second try on 64 minutes, dancing inside and outside his opposite number, before Greenwood, Robinson and Luger completed the rout.

But perhaps the most telling statistic was Georgia’s tackle count – around 180 - compared with England’s 40.