Georgians recover from poor start.

The Georgians entertained a strong Tigers side in a valuable pre season friendly, recovering from a poor first 20 mins to record a good win.

A total of 30 unavailability's due to one reason or another saw a very makeshift Georgians side take the field against the Tigers.

A number of players playing way out of position and having called up a number of Saxons to plug the gaps always meant that this was always going to be a tough ask against a Nat 2 outfit and a side we have had a number of close matches with in recent seasons.

Tigers hit their boot straps from the off and looked very clinical against a Georgians side that was, in truth poor for the first 20 minutes, inaccurate passing, the odd missed tackle and time spent adjusting as a scratch side saw Tigers open up a 12 v 0 lead with a couple of well worked moves.

The Georgians scrum however was working well despite only having 3 regular forwards from last year and, two backs playing as flankers drove the Tigers off the first scrum, Jack Wafer, Tom Young & Harry Butler all looking really solid.

As the team settled down a bit and having made some reorganisational changes things started to improve with Doc leading from the front and taking the physical battle to Tigers with some crunching hits.

A great catch and drive up to and over the line by the pack was only halted illegally awarding a Penalty try and the new automatic 7 points (no conversion needed if penalty try is awarded).

With more possession the side started to get to grips and although the scratch nature of the team always meant that the fluid set plays were going to be hard to achieve, Gareth Bass showed strength and pace to break free from a tackle and go over, with Doc adding the extras a slender lead.

Another driving series of plays took the Georgians upto the Tigers line and fittingly it was Doc Doherty's presence of mind and determination to join the ruck and score the vital try, adding the extras for a 21 v 12 lead.

Solid defence thereafter secured what looked like a very unlikely victory after the opening woes, great character shown by all, several stepping up and putting heart and soul into it.