The rising rugby nation of Georgia

Most by now should have noticed the steady upward trajectory Georgian rugby has travelled since their first match in 1989. Now securely established as the dominant force of the ENC, having won 9 of the past 10 annual tournaments, and as a World Cup regular having also recently automatically qualifying for the 2019 World Cup. Here is a look at their unprecedented rise in world rugby from obscurity, and some reasons as to why that rise may be far from finished yet.

If you look at World of Rugby, throughout its history there has been notably little change to the global hierarchy. In the post-war era, broadly speaking the top 15 or 16 nations have all been the same for the vast majority of the past 60 or 70 years.

Even a side like Argentina, often perceived or made out as a fresh new force, in actual fact have a rich history in the sport, including wins over 5 Nations or Tri Nations sides dating back to the 1960's and 1970's, and were fully established at least as a top 10 or 12 nation long before the professional era.

Likewise Canada, Romania, Italy, Japan, USA and the Pacific Islanders. All sides who have been around from the earliest World Cups, and all who would been the teams to add to the 5 Nations and Tri Nations had the RWC existed pre-1987 as well. Fresh faces at the RWC have been few and far between.

There is only one side to have genuinely firmly broken through into the top 15 or 16 nations from completely out of nowhere. That nation is Georgia, whose rise has been virtually unprecedented in the sport. No side has ever leapt so far so fast as the Lelos have done over the past 20 years.

If you look back to the first World Cup Georgia entered which was the 1995 edition. They were eliminated in the qualifying rounds in May 1993 without winning a match, losing to both Russia and Poland and failing to progress from their pool.

The Georgian team after beating
Russia for the first time in 1996.

At that time, Georgia were playing in the Third Division of the FIRA Trophy alongside obscure rugby nations such as Latvia, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In total 22 other European nations in the divisions were above them. In every single 4 year cycle since they have at least to some extent improved.

By 1999, the Georgians had begun their long ongoing unbeaten streak over Russia, got as far as the final repechage playoff match (losing on aggregate over two legs to Tonga) and reached the top division for the first European Nations Cup (or '6 Nations B').

By 2003, they had reached their first ever World Cup, and although a young side lost to Uruguay and failed to win a game, they were now only slightly behind Romania as the second strongest European nation outside the 6 Nations.

By 2007, they won their first World Cup match with a dominant win over Namibia, and were also far more combative against Tier 1 sides Argentina and Ireland, and now pretty much neck and neck with Romania as best European side outside the 6 Nations.

Georgia have now firmly established
themselves as the best European side
outside the 6 Nations, winning 9 of
the past 10 ENC titles.

By 2011, they had become clearly the strongest force in the ENC, winning 4 of the 5 past titles, and affirming their status with a clear win over their old rivals Romania at the RWC.

By 2015, they had extended their dominance of the ENC to 8 of the past 9 titles, aims were lifted beyond just that tournament which coach Milton Haig recently said 'is a bit of a waste of time apart from the Romania game', but also challenging the leading Pacific Nations Cup sides, taking the scalps of Samoa and Japan, and toppling Tonga at the RWC.

To recap on just how far they have come, nearly precisely 20 years prior to automatically qualifying for the 2019 RWC last autumn, they were losing 55-3 to the Netherlands.

The good news for Georgian fans is there is compelling evidence that suggests they should continue to get stronger still over the coming years, and that upward curve is far from over.

Where Georgia were around only just over a decade ago needs to be fully remembered in context. Articles about the team at the 2003 World Cup painted a picture of an extremely impoverished side.

Claude Saurel with Ilia Zedginidze
at the 2003 RWC, where reportedly
the Frenchman had to pay for team
tracksuits with his own money. 

At that tournament reportedly coach Claude Saurel had to pay for their official team tracksuits, and bring his own camera to be able to do video analysis. The entire first month of their training camp, including two planned warm up matches with Canada, was also cancelled due to financial reasons.

Flanker Gregoire Yachvili talked of a lack of basic equipment saying such as tackle bags, body armour and scrum machines. There were even rumours (although this may just be rugby folklore) of the side having converted old Soviet tractors for scrummaging machines.

Captain Ilia Zedginidze also complained of a complete lack of government support who he said 'appeared not to recognise the public interest in rugby'. Along with the shortage of basic facilities for training, with apparently at the time just 8 rugby pitches in the entire country, which forced Saurel to help the players find places in French club rugby to play.

With such paucity of facilities, many of the players back then had not played the game from such a young age, and in various cases were converts from other sports.

A young Mamuka Gorgodze (#10)
during his basketball days.

For example Levan Tsabadze, stalwart of the early days of Georgian rugby, and the player who was really the pioneer of Georgian props popularity in the Top 14, was a former wrestling gold medallist at the junior world championships.

More recent icons of Georgian rugby, Mamuka Gorgodze and Davit Zirakashvili, both only converted to rugby aged 17 from basketball and wrestling respectively.

That is what has all changed now. Stories of cancelled training camps and coaches having stump up their own money to pay for team kit are long gone.

There is a generation of player from the 2003 side such as Irakli Machkhaneli and Giorgi Chkhaidze who within their career span, went from worrying about a lack of basic equipment and being forced onto dodgy makeshift pitches, to now following the facility investment programme by the Cartu Group having in the words of WR 'a multitude of world-class training and playing facilities'.

Before the most recent World Cup, Milton Haig said they were the most professionally prepared Georgian team ever, having spent months working hard on fitness and even visiting the Polish cryotherapy chambers notably favoured by Warren Gatland.

Bidzina Ivanishvili's Cartu Group
has invested approximately GEL
100m since 2008 on projects to
improve rugby infrastructure. 

There is also a new generation of young Georgian player, such as example Merab Sharikadze or Vasil Lobzhanidze who, as opposed to later converts from other sports, have progressed as teenagers right through Georgia's age grade sides, and received lightyears more coaching and better facilities than their predecessors.

In fact at the last RWC, Georgia had one of the youngest squads at the tournament, with more 1990's born players than any other side. Not just rookies at the fringe of the squad brought along for the experience either, but at the core of the team.

Vito Kolelishvili is still only 26 years old, Misha Nariashvili 25, Levan Chilachava, Kote Mikautadze and Giga Tkhilaishvili 24, Sharikadze and Tamaz Mchedlidze 22, all who should be in their prime around 2019. Plus of course Lobzhanidze became the youngest player in RWC history, and could potentially make at least the next three tournaments.

Beyond that, there is still more promise, with recent Georgian junior teams performing stronger than they have at any time in their past history.

Over the past RWC cycle at Under 18 level, Georgia gave Ireland three tough competitive games, the latter of which they won on a penalty shootout following a draw last year. They also beat Italy at that level 3 out the 4 times they played each other.

That finally translated to Under 20 level as well last year. The young Lelos not only won the Junior World Rugby Trophy, but dominated the competition, beating the pre-tournament favourites Fiji 30-13 before putting 49 points on Canada in the final.

Those were clear and comprehensive wins, that notably featured plenty of clinical attacking play from the backs to carve through and round off the dominance of the pack. Which was something that was particularly promising, as really incisively putting away weaker sides has long been a notorious problem for the senior side (Namibia at the RWC being a prime example).

Georgia's U20 side last year was
their strongest ever, featuring a
number of players with potential to
become major players for the senior
team at some point in the future.

Most of the pack following that tournament was soon signed up by some of the biggest sides in France, such as Toulon, Clermont and Stade Français. Although from the backs only Lobzhanidze got any interest, there were numerous exciting prospects from across the entire field, including playmaking fly half Rezi Jinchvelashvili, and a very solid back three of Ioseb Kikvadze, Anzor Sichinava and Irakli Svanidze, not areas where Georgia have traditionally been strong.

Now having reached the top division of world rugby at U20 level for the first time, they are also guaranteed to stay there for at least a further two years. As they will host the 2017 edition, another mark of just how far they've come for a nation with apparently just had 8 rugby pitches only just over a decade ago.

The current Georgian side still features a few players from pre-2007 era, before the Cartu Group first took an interest in the sport in 2008, such as Gorgodze, Chkhaidze, Merab Kvirikashvili or Davit Kacharava, none of whom had the more modern professional environment the more recent up and coming young players can now get.

It's that generation's legacy to have firmly established Georgia in the World Cup, as the leading European side outside the 6 Nations, and to have inspired the sport's popularity and increased funding. But it will be to the next generation to carry that torch further.

With the demographic of the squad being still young and far from having peaked, along with the incoming young talent delivering better age grade results than any Georgian sides past, and who would have picked up rugby at a younger age, and had facilities to train in the 2003 squad could only dream of. It is far from implausible that by 2019 or 2023, aside from the irreplaceable Gorgodze, Georgia could be stronger in every position on the field compared to where they were in 2015.

6 Nations officials remain a large
barrier to Georgian progress, having
bluntly dismissed their ambitions to
one day join the continent's major
international tournament.

At this stage it would be more of a surprise if they didn't get stronger to some degree over the next 4 or 5 years. Even if there is also bound to be some tough moments whilst transitioning in numerous young players, Haig's target of becoming a genuine top 10 side is ambitious but far from totally unrealistic.

Obviously though there are still some challenges to be faced, ones where the solution is far from simple or easy. Most notably the fact opportunities to face top 10 sides are so rare, and their requests to be considered by the 6 Nations have been categorically shunned. Leaving them at a disadvantage both in terms of competitive experience and revenue and commercial value. In addition to that, they will always be a distinct disadvantage facing Tier 1 sides in terms of preparation and fitness levels as long as so much of the team is based in France.

Georgia are a unique opportunity for World Rugby. One that differs from North America or elsewhere in Europe, stronger commercial markets but where the sport will always be far lower down the pecking order, but equally doesn't suffer from embarrassing administrative incompetence, sub standard infrastructure and tiny populations like the Pacific Islanders do either.

With a natural aptitude for the sport, a robust, vibrant support base that has sold out 55,000 seater stadia and facilities and off field competence to back it up. They are perhaps the only Tier 2 side with potential become a nation with rugby truly at the heart of its culture.

To gain a nation like that would be a huge addition for the sport. The question is whether the officials at World Rugby and 6 Nations want it enough to allow a chance for that to happen. And despite some support from a section of fans, a few articles in the media, certain sources within the club game, it's a question that appears to elicit a negative response on the part of both parties who matter .....