Rugby World Cup: Wales 43-19 Georgia - Louis Rees-Zammit hat-trick helps Wales top Pool C

Wales winger Louis Rees-Zammit revelled in the spaces out wide to claim a hat-trick of tries

Wales completed a clean sweep of World Cup pool matches with a bonus-point victory over Georgia.

Louis Rees-Zammit scored a hat-trick as Warren Gatland's side topped Pool C to set up a likely quarter-final meeting with Argentina or Japan.

Tomas Francis, Liam Williams and George North also crossed for Wales.

Georgia threatened a second-half comeback after tries from Merab Sharikadze, Vano Karkadze and Davit Niniashvili.

Wales will learn their last-eight fate on Sunday, when Argentina take on Japan in a virtual quarter-final play-off, also at Nantes' Stade de Beaujoire.

Wales have every right to celebrate long into the night in Nantes, but the win came at a cost after head coach Warren Gatland confirmed Taulupe Faletau suffered a broken arm in the second half, which rules the number eight out of the rest of the tournament.

They will also be sweating on the fitness of fly-half Gareth Anscombe who strained his groin before kick-off, while full-back Liam Williams ended the match on crutches after taking a blow to the knee.

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After bonus-point wins over Fiji and Portugal and a convincing victory over Australia, Wales only needed a single match point to win the group, while the Georgians were playing for pride.

There was drama during the warm-up, with Anscombe's injury woes continuing. He pulled up during kicking practice and was replaced in the starting XV by Sam Costelow, with Dan Biggar moving to the bench.

Biggar himself was injured two weeks ago, suffering a pulled chest muscle, and was not called into action.

Gatland had made six changes, including the return of co-captain Dewi Lake, while keeping the core of the team that demolished the Wallabies.

Georgia welcomed back influential captain Sharikadze as one of five changes after defeat by Fiji sealed their World Cup exit.

Wales had not played in a fortnight but there was little sign of rust in the afternoon sunshine as they dominated early possession and territory, with Costelow showing little sign of nerves and kicking intelligently.

They came close to a breakthrough when player of the match Tommy Reffell charged down the ball in Georgia's 22, then brilliantly backed it up with a turnover.

The ball was shipped out to wing Rio Dyer, who was squeezed into touch by a scramble defence, but Wales came back for the penalty.

Lake found his target from the line-out and combined well with North, before Francis crashed over from close range on 15 minutes.

Wales continued to pile on the pressure and scored from another five-metre line-out.

Georgia had initially done well to defend the maul but when the ball came out to the backs, Costelow found himself in acres of space and floated the ball out to Williams, who beat two defenders to score.

It took nearly half an hour for Georgia to gain their first entry into Wales' 22 but their attacking line-out was overthrown and Wales managed to clear their lines.

But Georgia kept coming and won a penalty for offside which they kicked to touch. The forwards got the maul going and after a series of pick-and-goes sent the ball infield to Sharikadze, who managed to wriggle out of the tackle before planting the ball at the base of the posts.

Luka Matkava, who broke Welsh hearts with a winning penalty in Cardiff last year, added the easy extras.

Georgia continued to look threatening but Wales' defence held out until the break.

A broken arm suffered by number eight Taulupe Faletau took the gloss off Wales' win in Nantes

Georgia made three half-time substitutions and looked lively on the restart, but defensive pressure saw a loose midfield pass picked up by North who released Rees-Zammit to cruise in from 60 metres.

Wales introduced a new front row as the game started to break up, but it was Georgia who asserted their dominance with Akaki Tabutsadze almost producing a spectacular finish in the corner, only for a try review to show the wing was in touch.

Georgia continued to ask questions but were harshly penalised for crossing, giving Wales an easy out.

They kept on coming as they attempted to restore some pride in the jersey knowing they would be on the plane home whatever the outcome.

They got their just rewards from a five-metre line-out, with replacement Karkadze crossing to the roar of the fans.

Wales looked rattled as the penalty count started to creep up and some individual brilliance from Niniashvili brought them back to within a score.

The winger stiff-armed a poor tackle attempt from Gareth Davies to race down the line before dramatically diving to ground the ball.

Costelow attempted to steady the ship in the last 15 minutes with a long-range penalty attempt, but his effort fell short.

Wales found some quality when it mattered. Nick Tompkins found Williams in space who put a grubber kick through and the ball bounced kindly for Rees-Zammit to score his second.

Georgia were not going out without a fight though and an initial scuffle between Niniashvili and Taine Basham saw both sides coming together in an ugly mass-melee that spilled into the dugout.

Both were shown yellow cards with referee Mathieu Raynal deciding not to look too deeply into the other altercations.

This seemed to rally Wales as Rees-Zammit produced a moment of magic for his hat-trick. He kicked into space behind the Georgia defence and effortlessly won the footrace, but his fingertip grounding was contentious with boos ringing as it was awarded on review.

Wales added a fifth try in the dying minutes, with Georgia out on their feet having given everything.

North was the deserving scorer, having exploited a gap left on the wing to round off a less than comfortable afternoon.

But Wales fans will not mind and their attention now turns to their quarter-final in Marseille on Saturday, 14 October.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland said: "It was a tough game for us today, Georgia are a really difficult team to beat.

"They keep hanging in there, they keep fighting [and have] great spirit as a group.

"Even through we weren't at our best we got the job done and that's the pleasing thing for us as we focus on next week."

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