Canadian men's rugby team drops match to Georgia

Wing Shalva Aptsiauri scored three tries to help Georgia defeat Canada 38-17 in a hard-hitting men's rugby match Saturday in Batumi, Georgia.

After conceding an early try, the 24th-ranked Canadians held their own for the next 20 minutes against the physical Georgians but had trouble denting a resolute Georgia defence. The Georgia pack began to dominate the scrum and the speedy backs took their chances en route to a 17-3 halftime lead.

Canada had its moments on attack, scoring two tries in the second half. But No. 11 Georgia kept rolling with three more tries of its own after the break.

Demur Tapladze, Giorgi Kveseladze and Tornike Jalagonia also scored tries for Georgia. Tedo Abzhandadze booted four conversions.

Brock Gallagher and Sion Parry scored tries for Canada. Peter Nelson kicked a penalty and two conversions.

Both teams have qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

New Zealand referee Paul Williams had a busy afternoon, with both teams paying the price for repeated infractions. Georgia had three men shown yellow-cards, reduced to 13 men for a passage late in the game, while Canada had one man sent to the sin bin.

Georgia improved to 5-3-0 against Canada with a third straight victory in the series. Canada's last win over Georgia was a 16-15 decision in September 2015 in a World Cup warm-up in England.

The physical game took its toll.

Georgia lost Dato Abdushelishvili late in the first half with the 253-pound prop taken off on a stretcher with an apparent leg injury. And flanker Ilia Spanderashvili exited early in the second half holding his arm.

Canada scrum half Jason Higgins didn't make it out for the second half.

The Canadian men, now 1-7-0 on the year after their fifth straight loss, wrap up their