FULL TIME! 35-15. The Eddie Jones era is off the mark. The Wallabies have ended a five-match losing streak in style. Ben Donaldson marked his first start at fullback for Australia with a brace of tries.
CONVERSION, GEORGIA, MATKAVA! 35-15. Matkava adds the extras.
TRY, GEORGIA, ZAMTARADZE! 35-13. It's a flourishing finish for the Georgians, who get their second try through their replacement hooker.
Georgia get a penalty in Australian territory. While the result is all but decided, the Lelos can still scrape a bit of pride with a late try.
Try saver! Georgia will be kicking themselves. Tabutsadze looks set to score in the corner, but an incredible tackle from Nawaqanitawase causes the winger to lose the ball over the line.
CONVERSION, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 35-8. Donaldson converts his second try to take Australia into a 27-point lead.
TRY, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 33-8. Donaldson gets his double to seal the bonus-point. What a day it's been for the 24-year-old, making his first Test start at fullback.
Georgia get a penalty for offside and kick to the 22, but lose the ball forward from a planned move that would have put them over the tryline.
CONVERSION, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 28-8. Donaldson converts his own try to bring up a haul of 18 points so far. It's been an excellent performance from the rookie fullback.
TRY, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 26-8. It's a third try for the Wallabies, but it comes from a bizarre play. Georgia fullback Niniashvili makes an excellent break, but his wild pass only finds Tupou, who charges up the other end and gives it to Donaldson to score.
Georgia win another penalty in Australian territory and kick into the 22 for an attacking lineout. The Wallabies have lacked the same punch and intensity they had in the first half.
TRY, GEORGIA, IVANISHVILI! 21-8. Georgia come alive with an excellently-worked try from their blindside flank, who powers over in the corner. It's exactly the start to the second half that the Lelos would have wanted.
Georgia have brought in replacement loosehead Gogichashvili and it pays off as they win a penalty from a scrum at halfway. The Lelos have an attacking lineout in Australia's 22.
KICK OFF! 21-3. Georgia get the second half of this Pool C clash underway. The Lelos endured a disappointing first half and will start the second half with 14 men after wing Modebadze was yellow carded.
HALF TIME! 21-3. Australia knock the ball on at the lineout to bring an end to a dominant first half performance. The Wallabies have been all over Georgia, after scoring the first try in the opening two minutes. Georgia have had to live on scraps and will need a strong turnaround to come back in the second half.
YELLOW CARD! Georgia wing Modebadze is sent to the sin bin for repeated infringements
McDermott goes off for an HIA and is replaced by Nic White. The game restarts with a scrum inside Australia's 22 and the Wallabies once again win a penalty. Georgia have been surprisingly dominated at one of their strengths.
A wonderful break engineered by Matkava takes Georgia into Australia's 22. However, the game is stopped for McDermott to get medical attention after the Wallabies scrumhalf takes a blow to the head.
PENALTY, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 21-3. It's been a comfortable outing so far for Donaldson, after that first miss, as he adds another penalty to his tally.
McDermott wins a penalty for a high tackle after taking a quick tap and bursting into Georgia's 22. Donaldson takes the shot at goal.
Georgia come alive! The Lelos have struggle to create anything so far, but Tabutsadze goes close with a linebreak, but his kick goes too deep and is comfortably fielded by Donaldson.
PENALTY, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 18-3. Donaldson slots a second penalty to increase Australia's lead to 15 points.
Tupou loses the ball over the tryline, but the Wallabies have a penalty for offsides. Donaldson will take the shot at goal.
Australia go close! An excellent cross-field kick from Gordon is fielded by Nawaqanitawase, who offloads to almost put Petaia in the corner. The game will restart with a five-metre scrum and the Wallabies will have the feed.
PENALTY, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 15-3. Australia's new fullback seems to have found his range, with a successful penalty to go with his conversion.
CONVERSION, AUSTRALIA, DONALDSON! 12-3. Donaldson is successful with his second attempt on goal.
TRY, AUSTRALIA, NAWAQANITAWASE! 10-3. A second try in the opening 10 minutes for the Wallabies. It all started with an excellent linebreak from Koroibete, before Petaia went from scorer to assister, with an offload to Nawaqanitawase to finish in the corner.
PENALTY, GEORGIA, MATKAVA! 5-3. Georgia hit straight back through a penalty from flyhalf Matkava.
CONVERSION MISSED! 5-0. Donaldson misses his first attempt at goal.
TRY, AUSTRALIA, PETAIA! 5-0. What a start for the Wallabies! It comes from fine work from Petaia, who breaks through two tackles to go over the tryline.
KICK OFF! 0-0. Australia gets this opening Pool C clash against Georgia underway in Paris. The Wallabies are playing from left to right.
There are just minutes to go until kick-off and it's still very toasty in Paris, with temperatures of 34 degrees in the sun.
This clash will be refereed by Luke Pearce (England). This is Pearce’s first outing at his third Rugby World Cup. In his first, in 2015, he and his father Andrew were the fourth and fifth officials for a pool match between Italy and Romania. Pearce will be assisted by James Doleman (New Zealand) and Craig Evans (Wales). The TMO is Brian MacNeice (Ireland).
Georgia have picked a matchday-23 featuring 12 players who play their club rugby in France, including six in the starting lineup. Players to watch include rising start fullback Davit Niniashvili (Lyon), wing Akaki Tabutsadze, Georgia’s leading try-scorer in 2023, with two doubles and a hat-trick, and centre and captain Merab Sharikadze, their most capped-captain with 42 Tests in charge.
Georgia: 15 Davit Niniashvili; 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 13 Demur Tapladze, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Miriani Modebadze; 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 7 Luka Ivanishvili, 6 Tornike Jalagonia, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 4 Nodar Cheishvili, 3 Guram Papidze, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 1 Nika Abuladze.
Replacements: 16 Tengizi Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Beka Gigashvili, 19 Lasha Jaiani, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Giorgi Kveseladze.
The big surprise call from the Wallabies has seen Eddie Jones named Ben Donaldson to start ahead of Andrew Kellaway at fullback. Donaldson, 24, has only played three Test matches in Wallaby gold, one of those under Jones. His selection may point to a desire to take the goalkicking pressure away from young flyhalf Carter Gordon. Tighthead prop Taniela Tupou will play in his 50th Test match. France-based locks Will Skelton (La Rochelle) and Richie Arnold (Toulouse) combine in a powerful second row.
Australia: 15 Ben Donaldson; 14 Mark Nawaqanitawase, 13 Jordan Petaia, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete; 10 Carter Gordon, 9 Tate McDermott; 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton (c), 4 Richie Arnold, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 David Poreki, 1 Angus Bell.
Replacements: 16 Matt Faessler, 17 Blake Schoupp, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Rob Leota, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Nic White, 22 Lalakai Foketi, 23 Suli Vunivalu.
Australia come into this World Cup on a five-match losing streak – they have not won since Eddie Jones returned to the head coach hot seat in January.
The two sides have met just once before – in the final round of Pool D matches at Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, in front of nearly 40,000 fans at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Fukuroi. Australia beat Georgia 27-8, after being restricted to a 10-3 lead at half-time, with Georgia making over 120 tackles in the first half.
The ninth and 11th-ranked sides in the world, Australia and Georgia, kick off Pool C in this year’s Rugby World Cup, as the action returns to Stade de France less than 24 hours after the tournament opener between France and New Zealand.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of this World Cup Pool C match between Australia and Georgia live from the Stade de France in Paris.