Georgia celebrate their try. (Getty Images)

By Simon Stone, PA Sport, Sydney

At the latest count, Georgia had an adult rugby-playing pool of 300.

In Sydney they fished out 22 and proceeded to give South Africa a slap round the face.

Less than a week after they had threatened to derail England's World Cup dream, the mighty Springboks were on the end of one of the most humbling evenings they could ever have endured.

The 46-19 scoreline suggests it was one of those 'You had to be there nights' and without exception, the 34,000 who were at Aussie Stadium to witness it will remember the moment when Georgian hooker and law student David Dadunashvili peeled off a ruck, plunged over the line and became the first person from his proud former Soviet state to score a try at the Rugby World Cup.

"We always say our rugby father is Georgian and our mother is French, because that is where most of our players are," said Georgian Rugby vice-president Zara Kassachvili.

"Now we have a baby and that is Australian. We don't know how much it will grow in the future but we call on the rugby authorities to give it a chance.

"The motto of this tournament is 'World in Union', so let's really show it."

Kassachvili's call for assistance from the International Rugby Board is a familiar cry among the unheralded nations but his voice will sound much stronger given the stirring nature of Georgia's performance.

When Dadunashvili created his own piece of history, his country were just 13 points adrift of a Springbok side who were down to 14 men following the sin-binning of Hendro Schultz.

If winger Archil Kavtarashvili had been able to cling onto the interception he looked set to take shortly afterwards and then run clear 80 metres in front of him without being caught, South Africa would have been quaking in their sturdy boots and we could easily have been recording one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time.

As it was, the Georgian winger could not keep hold, the chance went and the Springboks managed to clear their heads for long enough to tie up the game.

"We have to forget what happened," admitted defiant coach Rudi Straeuli.

"You have to give credit to the Georgians - they defended like Trojans.

"The big disappointment for us was that we lost our structure and gave away silly penalties. That is not acceptable."

There were a couple of positives for Straeuli, notably the performance of 20-year-old fly-half Derick Hougaard, who scored the second of his side's seven tries and finished with 16 points.

Hougaard must be in contention to face Samoa in Brisbane next Saturday when victory will take South Africa into a Melbourne quarter-final with New Zealand.

Georgia, meanwhile, will return to Aussie Stadium next Tuesday to face Uruguay in a match they are well capable of winning, no doubt hoping for the same phenomenal support they enjoyed here.

"Whenever you go on the field you must have ambition," said their proud coach Claude Saurel.

"But you must be realistic as well and recognise South Africa are a superior team to us.

"Our players did everything they could. Maybe we might have got the other try and who knows what would have happened then."