Georgian rugby - players

croket

Romania v Georgia live now
http://1tv.ge/live?lang=en (georgian)
http://rugbytv.ro/player (romanian)

croket

Georgia won 15-6 and won 6 Nations B, with the grand slam

They conceded only 2 tries in their 5 games

Thanks to this win (and Italy's loss), Georgia is now ahead Italy in the World Rankings

thebaz

croket wrote: »

Thanks to this win (and Italy's loss), Georgia is now ahead Italy in the World Rankings

and in fairness, given Scotlands overall performance , there would be little to choose between them and Italy.

Hope fully it is only a matter of time before the bottom team in 6 nations plays the B nations championship , on a home & away battle for entry into main event.

ps well done Georgia.

timaru89

thebaz wrote: »

and in fairness, given Scotlands overall performance , there would be little to choose between them and Italy.

Hope fully it is only a matter of time before the bottom team in 6 nations plays the B nations championship , on a home & away battle for entry into main event.

ps well done Georgia.

+1

croket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AidRnltCimU

sydneybound

Catalin Fercu mustn't have played for Romania as he's lined up today for Saracens. He's having a cracking game so fair with a nice chip and chase and at least two try saving tackles. Looks really handy.

LeinsterDub

Didn't they win a slam last year too?

croket

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Didn't they win a slam last year too?

Yes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9314_European_Nations_Cup_First_Division#Season_2014

sydneybound

Looks like the Georgians are about to hit the Aviva Prem according the the MO and twitter....

Mikheil Nariashvili has established himself as one of the best loose-heads in Top14 but is reported to be considering move to the prem. They'll even buy him out of his contract.

Midi claims that Bath, Wasps & Quins have all recently approached Mamuka Gorgodze

croket

sydneybound wrote: »

Looks like the Georgians are about to hit the Aviva Prem according the the MO and twitter....

Mikheil Nariashvili has established himself as one of the best loose-heads in Top14 but is reported to be considering move to the prem. They'll even buy him out of his contract.

Midi claims that Bath, Wasps & Quins have all recently approached Mamuka Gorgodze

Good news IMO, the "french marker" is full for the georgians with so many georgians especially at prop.
If Gorgodze and Nariashvili moves to England and play well, other Georgian could sign in Premiership.

Also, this would allow other players to speak a fluent english. Apart Sharikadze, who studied at Hartpury College and played for Gloucester U19, and Mamukashvili actually with Sale Sharks, very few players speak English well, this would better communicate with the referee

sydneybound

croket wrote: »

the "french marker" is full for the georgians with so many georgians especially at prop.
If Gorgodze and Nariashvili moves to England and play well, other Georgian could sign in Premiership.

The amount of Georgian players in the Top14 really is something else, only when you properly go through squad lists do you see the full amount.

100% agreed - once these players move and make a good impression, they will as they've been extremely good this season. Granted Gorgodze has had injury problems but when he has played he's always been a great asset to Toulon.

Joining Bath would be a great move for him. There a great flair team but don't have any standout backrows this was noticeable a few weeks ago when Northampton walked all over them at the Rec. They were crying out for an abrasive player.

Once a couple of players start doing well more will flood in.

croket

Big upset for Georgia U18

They are in semi final after their draw 8-8 (but 3 penalty shoots to 1) against Ireland U18 (schools)

Qfinals
England 85-5 Portugal
Italy 14-13 Wales
France 22-10 Scotland
Georgia 8-8 (3-1) Ireland

SF
England - France
Italy - Georgia

Bridge93

Crazy to see one of Italy and Georgia will be in the elite final. Hopefully it's not a one off and the two of them are competing regularly

sydneybound

This type of competition must give both Georgia and Italy hope. I know you can't get carried away with these thing but they are good building blocks. Hope Georgia win the whole thing.

Bridge93

sydneybound wrote: »

This type of competition must give both Georgia and Italy hope. I know you can't get carried away with these thing but they are good building blocks. Hope Georgia win the whole thing.

I'd bet my house on the winner coming from the other semi but hopefully this signifies a start of things to come.
Italy have made changes to their underage setup which fingers crossed bears fruit for them.

croket

Bridge93 wrote: »

I'd bet my house on the winner coming from the other semi but hopefully this signifies a start of things to come.
Italy have made changes to their underage setup which fingers crossed bears fruit for them.

I also think the winner will come from the other semi, England is the favorite IMO.
But I hope Georgia will play the final...

With the results of Georgia U18 past 3 years (2 wins over Italy) and this year (at least a semi final, maybe a final) I would like see Georgia in 6 Nations U20.

bilston

croket wrote: »

I also think the winner will come from the other semi, England is the favorite IMO.
But I hope Georgia will play the final...

With the results of Georgia U18 past 3 years (2 wins over Italy) and this year (at least a semi final, maybe a final) I would like see Georgia in 6 Nations U20.

Interesting idea and it actually doesn't take much imagination to organise.

Two groups of four at U20 level (add Georgia and Romania). Three group games, top two progress to cup semi finals, bottom two to plate semis, winners of semis meet in a final, losers in the cup semis play for 3rd place and losers of the plate semis meet to compete in a relegation play off and then whoever is next on the list (Russia or Spain or whoever) gets to replace the losers of that the next season.

Everyone gets 5 games still but this way young players from developing countries (in rugby terms!) get exposure against the best youngsters from the leading European nations.

sydneybound

Excellent plan - to incoperate a few more teams in the under 20s wouldn't be that difficult.

thebaz

croket wrote: »

With the results of Georgia U18 past 3 years (2 wins over Italy) and this year (at least a semi final, maybe a final) I would like see Georgia in 6 Nations U20.

good idea , would rugby be more poplar now in Georgia than soccer ?

sydneybound

Georgia won today and are through to the final of the Under 18 European Championships!!!!
They already beat Ireland and now beat Italy in the semi's. They are due to play France in the final.

It was pissing it down all match which didn't help for an open game. It ended 6-6 and Georgia won on kicks.

By all accounts its massive news back in Georgia going on twitter and Facebook. God this country are quickly becoming quite good, very encouraging not only are they not taking beatings but they are actually beating the likes of Ireland and Italy.

Edit - Here is the winning kick, god knows what the lads are saying!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=951452124900061&set=vb.100001058472297&type=2&theater

bilston

You'd hope that if this transfers to the senior Georgian team over the next five years that World Rugby act in a positive manner. Think of the opportunity missed with Romania in the 80s when they were very strong.

The Lost Sheep

bilston wrote: »

You'd hope that if this transfers to the senior Georgian team over the next five years that World Rugby act in a positive manner. Think of the opportunity missed with Romania in the 80s when they were very strong.

To be honest id like to see this level of success transfer to u20s first while giving the senior side more games in November and summer against "Tier 1" countries
Romania was slightly different to Georgia and political situation there was a major issue(I think)

Bridge93

Is that their second penalty kick win!?

The Lost Sheep

Bridge93 wrote: »

Is that their second penalty kick win!?

Yep

bilston

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

To be honest id like to see this level of success transfer to u20s first while giving the senior side more games in November and summer against "Tier 1" countries
Romania was slightly different to Georgia and political situation there was a major issue(I think)

Oh of course this needs to be transferred to the 20s and then the senior team but if in 5 or 6 years it has then we shouldn't hang around in helping to bring Georgian rugby forward. The same goes for Romania.

It has crossed my mind that each November Georgia could play Ireland, Scotland and Wales and Romania could play England, France and Italy and then swap the following year. It would be even better if these games were played in Tblissi and Bucharest. However it will never happen for financial reasons and even if space could be found it would probably be outside the international window and all sides would be bereft of their star players.

croket

BTW Georgia is candidate to host 2017 JWC
It's this generation of players which would play for Georgia U20 in two years.

Also, Georgia national team coach Milton Haig (from NZ) said yesterday in an interview :

I very much looking forward to the completion of the 15-16 year old generation of players. I saw them playing and I thought I was in New Zealand. They look very similar to the New Zealand style, speed, assists, offloads. I was amazed. The next three-four years will be a very important period for the Georgian rugby, because it will become a become a foreground team.

gagnidze

thebaz wrote: »

good idea , would rugby be more poplar now in Georgia than soccer ?

popularity of rugby is increasing
popularity of football - contrariwise - decreasing

for this time
football is more more popular than Rugby

but it has historical reasons

sydneybound

Pretty cool TV add promoting the European U18s final in Georgia. It's being shown on there number 1 channel a bit like RTE1 or BBC1. It's also on terrestrial TV in France too. Hopefully Georgia can stay within 15 points, unreal if they won but unfortunately highly unlikely really hope I'm wrong.

elefant

sydneybound wrote: »

Edit - Here is the winning kick, god knows what the lads are saying!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=951452124900061&set=vb.100001058472297&type=2&theater

Maybe a silly question, but why were the kicks being taken from out on the wing? In previous shootouts I've seen the kicks have been from directly in front of the goal.

Also, it seems a bit of an advantage for the Georgian players taking their kicks right in front of their own teammates. Must have been intimidating for the Italians taking pressure kicks 5 metres away from the whole opposition squad!

sydneybound

elefant wrote: »

Maybe a silly question, but why were the kicks being taken from out on the wing? In previous shootouts I've seen the kicks have been from directly in front of the goal.

Also, it seems a bit of an advantage for the Georgian players taking their kicks right in front of their own teammates. Must have been intimidating for the Italians taking pressure kicks 5 metres away from the whole opposition squad!

I stand to be corrected with both but that was the second round of kicks. The first round of 4 kicks are in front of the posts then they move after the first round.

The Italians seemed to in the middle of the pitch so would have been near the Georgian kickers in the first round. However I wouldnt read much into it on both counts, the teams have to stand somewhere.

elefant

sydneybound wrote: »

I stand to be corrected with both but that was the second round of kicks. The first round of 4 kicks are in front of the posts then they move after the first round.

The Italians seemed to in the middle of the pitch so would have been near the Georgian kickers in the first round. However I wouldnt read much into it on both counts, the teams have to stand somewhere.

That makes sense. Wasn't reading anything into it really, was just curious!
I thought it would have made sense to have both teams standing in the middle of the pitch, as in football, for fairness' sake. The Italian guy at the end must have been bricking it!

croket

elefant wrote: »

That makes sense. Wasn't reading anything into it really, was just curious!
I thought it would have made sense to have both teams standing in the middle of the pitch, as in football, for fairness' sake. The Italian guy at the end must have been bricking it!

You can watch penalty shootout here :
against Ireland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vF7pNux8jE
against Italy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGMtaZO9Oqs

---

High five for Georgia as World Cup preparations gather pace

Milton Haig believes Georgia's successful European Nations Cup campaign will stand them in good stead on a number of levels for Rugby World Cup 2015.

A fifth straight European Nations Cup title came with added bonuses for Georgia head coach Milton Haig.
A number of the country's young players seized their chance to impress before Rugby World Cup 2015 as the Lelos swept all before them again to retain the ENC trophy and move above Italy into 14th place in the World Rugby Rankings.
While pleased to remain the dominant force in the competition, New Zealander Haig, who took charge of Georgia post-RWC 2011, says it was more important that other objectives were met as part of the team’s preparations for this year’s showpiece event in England.
“Obviously we wanted to win the competition but the main objective for this tournament was looking at players for the World Cup. We wanted to see how new players who’d not featured much before, if at all, would get on in places like Madrid and Bucharest where we've always found it tough, and also what level some of the older guys coming back from injury were at,” he said.
“Over the last three years we’ve built up our squad depth quite nicely, but we felt we still needed a few more options out wide because our captain Irakli Machkhaneli, who has played over 70 tests, retired in November.
“A couple of new wingers came through – Giorgi Aptsiauri, a young full-back/wing, and Alex Khutsishvili, a big, strong boy who’s played sevens before but this was his first crack at 15s.”

Youngest ever?

Haig also tipped young scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze, from the Tbilisi-based Armazi Rugby Club, for a bright future.
“He’s an exciting talent, that’s for sure,” Haig said. “He’s actually come on a little bit quicker than we thought he would. Originally we only intended to play him in one of the games but he played in three, starting the last two against Russia and Romania. He played so well we simply couldn’t leave him out.”
If Lobzhanidze plays in any of Georgia’s Pool C matches at RWC 2015, the 18-year-old will replace USA Eagle Thretton Palermo as the youngest player to compete in the tournament’s history. Palermo was eight days past his 19th birthday when he took to the field against the Springboks in Montpellier at RWC 2007. Lobzhanidze’s 19th birthday, on 14 October, falls a few days before the quarter-finals.
Realistically, Georgia will need to beat one of the big two in Pool C, New Zealand and Argentina, to have any hope of still being in the tournament at that stage.
“We’re not even looking at that,” Haig added. “Argentina are eighth in the world and we are 14th. The reason they are eighth is because they regularly beat the teams immediately below them and sometimes, as we saw with their win against Australia in the Rugby Championship, they beat the teams ahead of them.
“But if we can get some momentum through our pre-competition games and play well in our first game against Tonga, then who knows what could happen. Still, we’d have to play really well and Argentina would have to have an off day for us to have any chance of tipping them over.
“Our goal is to win two matches and finish third in the group. Automatically qualifying for a World Cup is something we’ve never done before.”

RWC 2015 preparations gather pace

With less than six months to go before RWC 2015 kicks off, 50-year-old Haig admits the tournament will be on them before they know it.
“We’ve been really, really busy with World Cup timelines to work to in conjunction with our normal calendar,” he said. “Now the European Nations Cup is over, we’ll go through the review process and then I’ll be in France for a week or so, catching up with all of our players who are based there.
“The Tbilisi Cup in June will provide us with another opportunity to look at players, and from that point onwards we’ll be full on with our preparations right the way through to the end of the World Cup.
“We’ve got a 10-11 week training camp, part of which will be spent at an Olympic Sports Centre in Poland on the Baltic coast, before we return to Georgia, have a week off, and then head over to London where we’ll be based for our three warm-up games.
"We play Premiership side Newcastle, in Newcastle on 28 August, followed by games against Canada (at Esher) and Japan (in Gloucester).
“Our plans are reasonably finely-tuned but that’s the way we want it to be. Preparation is absolutely key for us.”


http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/63789

croket

Mamuka Gorgodze and Levan Chilachava are both named in the team of the week by rugbyrama.

Gorgodze impressed at flanker, he made 22 tackles (and missed one), run 24m ball in hand, beaten 2 defenders and made 2 offloads

Chilachava was a strong scrummager and destroyed the former french international Barcella during scrums

Their teammates, lock Mikautadze, played 14 minutes. He made 7 tackles and run 5m ball in hand

croket

Davit Zirakashvili will start Heineken Cup final tomorrow with Clermont
Levan Chilachava is on the bench for Toulon



Also, this U20 extented squad to prepare Junior World Rugby Trophy
The team won over Clermont U22 28-22, and lost against georgian premiership side Armazi 26-29
Georgia U20 will face Fiji U20, Uruguay U20 and Portugal U20

Props :
Nick Neparidze (Locomotive Tbilisi)
Zaza Kharebava (La Rochelle, France)
Beka Kakabadze (Clermont, France)
Giorgi Melikidze (Kharebi Rustavi)
Nika Svimonishvili (Lelo Saracens)

Hookers :
Badri Alkhazashvili (Lelo Saracens)
Lasha Sajaia (Jiki Tbilisi)
Giorgi Tedoradze (TBC)

Locks :
Otar Giorgadze (Aia Kutaisi)
Roland Kvachadze (Aurillac, France)
Mikheil Babunashvili (Tarbes, France)
Tornike Zoidze (Clermont, France)

Backrow :
Davit Papavadze (Jiki Tbilisi)
Tornike Bubuteishvili (Lelo Saracens)
Giorgi Tsutsqiridze (Brive, France)
Jora Mghebrishvili (Kharebi Rustavi)

Scrumhalves :
Vasil Lobzhanidze (Armazi Tbilisi) - 5 caps
Temur Tutberidze (Aia Kutaisi)
Givi Losaberidze (Aia Kutaisi)

Flyhalves :
Revaz Jinchvelashvili (Aia Kutaisi) - 1 cap
Giorgi Babunashvili (Aia Kutaisi)

Centres :
Badri Liparteliani (Armazi Tbilisi)
Giorgi Koshadze (Kharebi Rustavi)
Sandro Iluridze (Academia Tbilisi)
Temur Iremadze (Aia Kutaisi)
Giorgi Kveselidze (Iunkerebi)

Back three :
Irakli Svanidze (Jiki Tbilisi)
Rati Shanidze (Lelo Saracens)
Davit Gulitashvili (Kharebi Rustavi)
Ioseb Kikvadze (Aia Kutaisi)
Anzor Sichinava (Academia Tbilisi)

sydneybound

I think Georgia will easily win the JWCT. The one thing about that squad is I'd like to see a few more backs with good (French) clubs.

Not sure things are working out for Mamuka Gorgodze at Toulon. He's not in the 22 for tomorrow which is a pity. He got yellow carded last weekend when Toulon should have beaten by favourite club La Rochelle. He seems to give away quite a few stupid penalties however that said when he hasn't been injuried he's been immense, the problem is he's been injuries a hell of a lot.

croket

sydneybound wrote: »

I think Georgia will easily win the JWCT. The one thing about that squad is I'd like to see a few more backs with good (French) clubs.

I hope so.
Here is the JWRT final squad

Props
Nika Neparidze (Locomotive Tbilisi)
Beka Kakabadze (Clermont, France)
Giorgi Melikidze (Kharebi Rustavi)
Nika Svimonishvili (Lelo Saracens)

Hookers
Badri Alkhazashvili (Lelo Saracens)
Lasha Sajaia (Jiki Tbilisi)

Locks
Otar Giorgadze (Aia Kutaisi)
Roland Kvachadze (Aurillac, France)
Mikheil Babunashvili (Tarbes, France)
Tornike Zoidze (Clermont, France)

Backrow
Davit Papavadze (Jiki Tbilisi)
Tornike Bubuteishvili (Lelo Saracens)
Giorgi Tsutskiridze (Brive, France)
Beka Gorgadze (Mont-de-Marsan, France)

Scrumhalves
Vasil Lobzhanidze (Armazi Tbilisi - 5 caps)
Temur Tutberidze (Aia Kutaisi)

Flyhalves
Revaz Jinchvelashvili (Aia Kutaisi - 1 cap)
Giorgi Babunashvili (Aia Kutaisi)

Centres
Badri Liparteliani (Armazi Tbilisi)
Giorgi Koshadze (Kharebi Rustavi)
Giorgi Kveseladze (Iunkerebi)

Back Three
Irakli Svanidze (Jiki Tbilisi)
Rati Shanidze (Lelo Saracens)
Davit Gulitashvili (Kharebi Rustavi)
Ioseb Kikvadze (Aia Kutaisi)
Anzor Sichinava (Academia Tbilisi)

The forward pack looks very strong!
prop Zaur Kharebava from La Rochelle, who was in the extented squad is not in the final squad.
Hooker Alkhazashvili started both games for Tbilisi Caucasians in European Challenge Cup qualifying.
Also, lock Gogoladze from Tarbes is missing but Otar Giorgadze was a regular starter for Georgia U19 while the three other locks plays in France.
In the back row, Papavadze is promising, Gorgadze and Tsutsqiridze are playing in France
Both half-backs, Lobzhanidze and Jinchvelashvili are already capped by Georgia national senior team.
I don't really know the centres but Liparteliani is a regular starter for Armazi.
In the back-three, Svanidze and Kikvadze showed some good skills.

croket

Easy win for Georgia U20 in the first day of the JWRT against Uruguay
46-12, 8 tries to 2
The backs showed some interesting skills

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cvQrfH7MQA

despite that there was discipline problems, 1 red card and 3 yellow card against Georgia (1 red card and 1 yellow card against Uruguay)

sydneybound

Georgia have been awarded the 2017 U20 World Cup. Although not a massive event in scale it will be huge for the country itself.

Good also seeing World Rugby spreading out events to countries like Georgia

croket

Second game of the JWRT

Georgia U20 30-13 Fiji U20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndlQLTnGjw

sydneybound

Georgia have got through to the Junior World Rugby Trophy Final beating Portugal in a tight match.

This is their first ever appearance at a JWCT final where they'll play Canada. Would be great if they win and get promoted to the JWC as they would have experience playing in the event before hosting if. Encouraging that the U18s got to the European Final and hopefully the U20 squad win this event.

croket

Georgia won JWRT and qualifiy for the Junior World Cup next year.

They beat Canada 49-24, scoring 7 tries to 3.

Few weeks after their U18 european championship final, the future looks bright for Georgia

croket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECISynPgxgU

sydneybound

This is a great result for Georgia and Georgian rugby.

There has been a serious amount of money invested in rugby in Georgia. It receives the highest amount of funding for a team sport in the country. A billionaire in the country (the ex PM) set up a foundation and pumped millions into developing new stadiums, some built and others in the pipelines. So it's far to say this country is taking the game very seriously and given these underage results and popularity of the sport in the country they are here to stay so we in the Six Nations both U20 and seniors might be better off accepting them. Let's embrace a new rugby country, hope in a few years they are made tier 1.

Good news story from a Georgian site.

http://agenda.ge/article/2290/eng

Hope that link works properly.

Edit that billionaire has built 16 new grounds already with another 16 on the way.

croket

Very interesting article, thanks for the link

In other news, Toulon's lock Konstantin Mikautadze will play for Barbarians against Ireland

sydneybound

sydneybound wrote: »

.

Edit that billionaire has built 16 new grounds already with another 16 on the way.

:eek:

thomond2006

[Deleted User] wrote: »

:eek:

...for they, the million Georgian props, will inherit the earth.

croket

Deleted User wrote: »

:eek:

It's Bidzina Ivanishvili
He holds 46% of the georgian GDP with US$5.2 Billion

thomond2006

croket wrote: »

It's Bidzina Ivanishvili
He holds 46% of the georgian GDP with US$5.2 Billion

Wow, that dwarfs someone like Mourad Boudjellal. If Georgia can get structures in place then maybe we'll see them entering a Six/Seven Nations tournament in the next decade. I believe they dominate the ENC regularly.

Edit: They have won the last 5 ENCs.

thebaz

I'd like tho see them added , maybe every second year , at first and see how it works out

The Lost Sheep

thebaz wrote: »

I'd like tho see them added, maybe every second year, at first and see how it works out

If theyre added they wont be added every two years as that just is illogical and not good for 6Nations or Georgia. Add them to play every year or not at all.
Perhaps look to help their age grade sides to underage 20s and give them an automatic spot in the Rugby Europe u18 championship and hopefully we can then see another country get up to where Georgia are..