England host Georgia for the first time on Saturday and are wary of how fired up their opponents will be due to the scale of the occasion for the nation’s rugby.
The teams met at the World Cup in 2003 and 2011, with England recording comfortable wins, but a fixture at Twickenham (followed by trips to Wales and Ireland) affords Georgia an opportunity to prove they are worthy of more fixtures against high-ranked opponents.
Eddie Jones names his team for the Autumn Nations Cup game on Thursday, and has Elliot Daly and Joe Marler available after injury, but no George Ford or Mark Wilson.
It seems likely that opportunity will be afforded to youngsters like Wasps’ Jack Willis.
England’s forwards know they are in for a physical battle against a tough outfit this weekend.
Georgia lost 48-7 to Scotland at Murrayfield last month
Getty Images“We know the gravity of the game, for Georgia as a showcase of them as a team, at Twickenham,” said prop Will Stuart.
“It’s a massive opportunity for them. We are not underestimating them at all.”
Lock Joe Launchbury agreed, saying: “Playing Georgia this weekend is an exciting task for us. It has been a number of years since we have played against them; it is a different opposition and a different style of play.
“We understand what this game will mean to them, to have an opportunity to play at Twickenham against England is an exciting proposition for them. We are very respectful of that.”
Georgia lost 48-7 to Scotland a fortnight ago, but England forwards coach John Mitchell expects them to be much improved.
“To be fair to Georgia I think [for] 17 of their players, that was their first match since February domestically so they were well short of rugby when they came up against Scotland,” he said.
“Now they have experienced a Test match they will be better for that.”
The Autumn Nations Cup will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from November 13.
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