Japan beat Georgia 13-10 on Saturday in a match that had all the making of a real Rugby World Cup match, not a warm-up.
Each team had a man sin-binned in the first half, and the defences were committed and fierce in a match which produced only one try each, but excited a crowd at Kingsholm where the teams will return for World Cup matches.
From the time winger Muraz Giorgadze scooped up and scored from scrumhalf Vasil Lobhanidze's smart kick, Georgia led for more than an hour, its defence blunting Japan's territorial dominance.
Fly-half Lasha Malaguradze missed a late penalty chance to extend Georgia's lead to seven points and Japan took advantage.
The Japanese produced a rolling maul from which back row replacement Amanaki Mafi dived over for the winning try, topped off by Ayumu Goromaru's conversion.
Japan will return to Kingsholm to play Scotland and the United States, while Georgia will begin its World Cup there against Tonga in two weeks and meet Argentina at the same venue a week later.
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