As it happened: Wallabies survive Georgian fightback for third win under Schmidt

That’s all she wrote from Allianz Stadium folks. Thanks so much for following along the live updates.

I will leave with Jonny Drennan’s match report. He sums up a chaotic afternoon nicely.

“The record books will record the Wallabies’ fourth successive Test victory – the first time they have strung four wins together since 2021 – after dispatching Georgia by 11 points in Sydney, but their second-half meltdown will perhaps live longest in the memory.

As ever with the Wallabies, it wasn’t straightforward.”

Read the match report in full here.

See you next time.

Joe Schmidt is just the third Wallabies coach to win his first three Tests in charge.

He was circumspect about the latest victory over Georgia, given the fact he used July as both a chance to introduce himself to players, and then give them auditions. All while trying to win Test matches.

“It is only three weeks that we have been together, and we made 10 changes. We knew there was an element of risk in that,” Schmidt told Stan Sport.

“But I like the way we built our way into the game. We put a few nice tries together and built a lead, and it was really disappointing on the back of losing Filipo, they got back into the game and we were scrambling a little bit.

“We just have to stay moment focused and try to win the moment in front of our face, and not get distracted by the scoreboard or get distracted by decisions.

“In all the Test matches, we have conceded a penalty and then conceded another one and banked a few up, and put ourselves in a corner where we are under pressure. We have to make sure we stay present and deliver as best we can.

“We are just trying to offer opportunity and some guys have put their hands up, and some guys probably need to do a bit of work.”

Hard to argue with Fraser McReight being awarded the man of the match award. There were a number of players who didn’t enhance their names at Allianz Stadium, but the no.7 was not one of them. He was in everything.

McReight said the win was “very scrappy” but it was good to get the result.

“There are plenty of work ons. Our discipline, a lot of that game was pretty poor,” McReight told Stan Sport.

“I was super happy with our maul, both sides of the ball. There were times we lost the kicking game and our discipline really let us down. But that’s test footy. We found a way to win against a really quality Georgian side so credit to them.

“It is the first time we have won three in a row for a while, albeit they have been scrappy, we will take that. They’re Test wins and we are a young group together, with new staff and coaches. We are just going to keep building. There might be some lows through the year but it’s about riding that wave.”

Okay, you can breathe out again Wallabies fans.

The full-time siren has sounded and Australia have scored a 40-29 win.

But holy heck, they were made to work for it. The Wallabies looked good in parts, and they put enough solid connection together to score six tries. But they also looked awful in parts, and that was enough for Georgia to post four tries and make a hell of a game.

FULL-TIME: Wallabies 40-29

Georgia’s fightback has been ruined by a lack of discipline, and they found themselves back on their own line soon enough.

This time McReight got the chocolates, via the same move and a rolling maul.

That’s eased the tension in the stadium with Australia leading by 16 with 15 minutes left.

63min: Wallabies 40 Georgia 24

The Wallabies looked to have scored a rolling maul try to McReight but Valetini was ruled to have stepped in front of the lineout receiver.

Reserve prop Alex Hodgman has entered the field, making him the fourth player to play Test rugby for both the All Blacks and the Wallabies.