Georgia captain Merab Sharikadze says he was pleased with his side’s improved performance against England and is eager to build on the experience gained at Twickenham.
The visitors, ranked number 12 in the world, were beaten 40-0 by the recently crowned Guinness SIx Nations champions thanks to a hat-trick of tries from hooker Jamie George as well as efforts from Jack Willis, Elliot Daly and replacement Dan Robson.
Nevertheless, Sharikadze is confident that opportunities against tier one nations will only help his side improve.
“We fought well,” the 27-year-old centre told Amazon Prime Video post-match.
“We were much better today than in our last game against Scotland. Even though we played probably against one of the best sides in the world, and surely the best side in the world at building up pressure.
“Every time they had the ball we were under so much pressure. I think it was a very, very good experience for us and I’m hoping that the next game will be better handling pressure.”
England crossed over for six tries but were restricted to just two scores in the second half as Georgia dug deep to frustrate the hosts in wet conditions in south west London.
Eddie Jones’ side were 26-0 ahead at the break with Willis scoring his debut try in the 15th minute before George added two more in the space of four minutes thanks to his exploits at the end of two driving mauls.
Daly then crossed three minutes before half-time but the Georgians showed impressive strength in the second half to only concede two more tries, courtesy of George’s third and Robson sniping from the base of the ruck with just over ten minutes to go.
And despite being unable to tally any points, Sharikadze is adamant that Georgia will continue to develop as they embark upon further testing encounters during the remainder of the competition.
He added: “If we want to improve, if we want to get somewhere, playing against England and other top teams is the key – otherwise we can’t improve.
“It doesn’t matter how much we train, it doesn’t matter what we do, we need to play against these teams.”
Georgia next face another big test as they travel to Cardiff to face Wales next Saturday while the other game in Group A sees England host Ireland on the same day.
