After a week under siege Wales went on the attack. Three tries in the first 15 minutes and a bonus point before half-time were an emphatic response to last week’s forced departure of Rob Howley, the man who for 12 years shaped the way the Six Nations champions used possession.

Wales won the grand slam this year through an aggressive defence but what tended to be lost, after five scores under 30 points, was the capacity they had to come from behind to win, most notably when they trailed France by 16 points in Paris, but also against England in a far tighter contest. They showed a creative side, even if they did not flaunt it.

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Here, as Georgia braced themselves for a shoving contest in the scrum and lineout mauls to defend, they found the ball quickly spirited away to a midfield crowded with decoy runners. Georgia had set the speed to slow motion but immediately found themselves having to operate at fast forward. To their credit they rallied after the break and tied the second period but by then Wales were thinking about the matches which will shape their destiny this tournament, against Australia and Fiji.

Georgia had the ideal start as they packed down for a Wales scrum two minutes in. All eight forwards shoved hard, still bound and enjoying themselves as Gareth Davies picked up and darted way, assessing his options before firing a flat pass to Jonathan Davies. The defence, unready, stood back and the centre had a free run to the line from 20 metres.

Dan Biggar, who was inadvertently clouted in the face by Liam Williams during the celebrations having suffered a cut chin during the warm-up, missed the conversion from in front of the posts, but was soon lining up a second after another scrum. Josh Adams came into the midfield from his wing, ran on to Biggar’s inside pass and linked with Gareth Davies, who cut in despite having the pace to make the line on the outside. Justin Tipuric picked up, sold dummies to two willing guards and shimmied away.

By way of variation the third try came from a lineout. Again Adams came off his wing undetected and swerved away from what passed for the defence on a 40-metre run to the line.

The crowd made it a home match for Wales: while at least 1,000 had made the long trip, the bulk of those dressed in red were locals, enthusiastically cheering every break and score even though many would probably have struggled to locate the country on a map. The nickname of the Dragons fired interest and one woman proudly sported a Wales football jersey bearing one.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Replacement scrum-half Tomos Williams touches down for Wales’s fifth try. Photograph: Ashley Western/MB Media/Getty Images

Such is the way the country has taken to an unfamiliar sport. Georgia rallied for a spell to quieten the clamour but one minute before the interval Tipuric won a lineout, Gareth Davies looped round Ken Owens and Jonathan Davies cut the line before freeing Liam Williams. It was simple but deadly – a legacy of the work Howley did during the summer or maybe a quick imprint of his replacement, Stephen Jones, who joined the squad four days before.

“The plays were in place and the players executed a number of set-piece opportunities,” said the Wales head coach, Warren Gatland, who took off a number of influential players early in the second half, starting with Gareth Davies. This, along with the humidity that dampened the ball and a spirited revival by Georgia, who tightened up and gained belief from an early try from a rolling maul from a lineout, made the second half less of a procession. Wales had partly turned their attention to the match against Australia on Saturday which will probably decide who finished at the top of the pool. Both played the role of iconoclasts in the opening round, Wales by spreading the ball quickly and often, the Wallabies by subduing lively opponents through mauling and grinding. “It was a performance that showed their experience,” said Gatland, who was not minded to aim a missile in the direction of his opposite number, Michael Cheika, an indication of how quietly confident he is.

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The Wales coach will probably have to summon a replacement second-row with Cory Hill having a fitness test on Tuesday after struggling to recover from a leg injury. “He is possibly out of the World Cup,” Gatland said. “We will assess him tomorrow and, if he is not right, he will go home.”

Gatland also said that Ken Owens, who received treatment after hearing a click in his right knee following a heavy tackle, was not a concern, though when Alun Wyn Jones made the same remark during the grand slam victory over Ireland in March, he did not play again for two months.

Owens was taken off immediately after he received treatment. Wales scored two tries from counter-attacks and Georgia, who were fortunate that there was no review on a reckless challenge by Shalva Sutiashvili on George North that brought the wing clattering to the ground as he attempted to field a high kick and again exposed the inconsistency in the application of what is meant to be a stipulation, scored their second try after winning a scrum penalty.