Georgia outscored the Premiership side by five tries to two in a titanic struggle but Nikolava’s reliable boot ensured the tourists left with a hard earned victory.
Despite being beaten, Premiership head coach Simon King was delighted with his team’s performance.
“The match was very well fought and was an excellent spectacle to watch,” he said. “I thought it was a tough game but a good performance from the boys who have only had four sessions together and to push an international side as close as we did is a good indication of the potential in our league.”
His sentiments were backed up by captain and man of the match Haydn Pugh. “They were a very physical side, especially up front and their backs were very quick.
“It was an excellent performance from the lads and I hope we can do this again with other nations like Germany and Romania etc as this shows the potential that the Premiership has to offer.”
Fly half Steffan Jones opened the scoring in the seventh minute with a penalty but Georgia soon realised this was going to be a tough battle and in the 10th minute after good continuity play captain Lekso Gugava made a quick dash and a good offload to hooker Shalva Mamukashvili who dived over for Nikolava to add the conversion.
Jones extended the lead with three further penalties before Georgia hit back in the 23rd minute.
A good lineout drive from the Georgia forwards earned them another penalty. Scrum half George Kacharava’s quick thinking saw him take a quick tap which led to a try for lock David Chitidze, whose strong running impressed throughout the entire game. A great touch line conversion from Nikolava put the away side back into the lead 12-14.
A superb halfway line break from the Wales 7s winger Lee Rees and a nice chip over the last man left him certain to score, however after being taken out by Zurab Dzneladze, who was fortunate not to receive a yellow card, the only reward was another penalty for Jones.
After a feisty battle between both front rows Traki Mirtskhulava received a yellow card for swinging a punch. The Premiership side confidently opted for the corner relishing the chance to exploit the gaps. Georgia soon after made changes sacrificing a back rower for a prop replacement for safety reasons and this soon disrupted the Georgian side
The Welsh side exploited this and used their extra man to their advantage when open side flanker James Davies made a break and an excellent offload to the blinside flanker Matthew Llewellyn, who had a very good game, to dive over under the sticks. Jones again converted.
On the 39th minute another quick tap penalty from Kacharava saw him jink his way over. With Nikolava’s conversion, the match was evenly poised at the break with the Premiership leading 22-21.
The home side got the first points of the second half after a scrum offense, leaving replacement outside half Jamie Davies from Aberavon to slot a superb kick over from 50m.
Georgia again came back and in the 58th minute another try came Georgia’s way after an overthrown lineout mistake lead to a good pick up from the back rower and link play from the two centres who switched for Irakli Chkhikvadze to have an easy run in under the posts. Converted by Nikolava.
The Georgian XV continued to push which lead to another try when the replacement No 8 picked up from the back of the scrum and drove over for a try.
The Welsh side refused to give up and after patient play in the 75th minute Sam Sole scored in the corner. Davies’s brilliant sideline conversion brought the score to 32-33 but there was to be no fairy tale finish for the Premiership XV as Nikolava sealed the win with a penalty kick from 25m out.
