Georgia head coach Lado Kilasonia called on his team to find consistency after an up-and-down display against Italy in their first Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series contest.

The Lelos took the lead inside three minutes against Italy but then quickly unravelled, conceding three tries in 16 first-half minutes on their way to a 36-19 defeat.

Ahead of their clash with Wales on Thursday, Kilasonia said that they must first improve their kicking game if they hope to deliver a truly competitive performance.

“It was a good 15 minutes but unfortunately the game is 80 minutes,” joked Kilasonia, speaking about his side’s fast but ultimately unsustainable start.

“You have to build up and build up, but sometimes this happens. It’s our first international game this year so I think we’ll take it game by game.”

“Our kicking game was not there, so that made us spend a lot of time in our half, and definitely, when you’re spending a lot of time in your half and a good opposition team is having a lot of the ball and they’re really good, you don’t get the points.

“That was my main concern about the team. We have to be better against Wales in these areas.”

On a more positive note, Kilasonia was pleased with the resilience shown. Georgia briefly threatened a late comeback when winger Shalva Aptsiauri reduced the deficit to 10 points in the closing stages.

But Federico Cuminetti's score two minutes from time warded off the possibility of any Georgian heroics. And Kilasonia was impressed by that late push, feeling it offers them a platform from which to build.

“The boys’ character was really good,” he said.

“We didn’t give up and tried to play until the last minute and unfortunately we were short this time. We can use that going forwards.”

Post-match, Kilasonia was complimentary of the Azzurrini, and the exposure to high quality opposition which the Summer Series has afforded his side.

Georgia have played Thursday’s opponents, Wales, just once previously at a major U20s competition, and Kilasonia thinks the experience can only be beneficial.

“We’re playing against Italy in Italy and it's a team that everyone knows because the last two years of their U20s they’ve been really, really good,” he said.

“It’s tough but I think it’s in these games we’re going to grow up and in these games we’re going to see what the problem is and find out what our future work on is.”

The Six Nations Under-20 Summer Series takes place from 24 June – 12 July. Fans can watch every match live. For more information visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJHm6BFw-9JRA1CMekNLwMg