Georgia national rugby union team

The Georgia national rugby union team represents Georgia in men's international rugby union nicknamed The Lelos, it's administered by the Georgian Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Rugby Europe Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, which takes place every four years.
Georgia is currently considered a second-tier rugby union nation and is one of the world's fastest-growing rugby nations. The Lelos participate in the Rugby Europe Championship, winning the tournament in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 seasons. The bulk of the national squad are based in France, in both the Top 14 and lower divisions. This is a practice that was popularized by former national team coach, Claude Saurel, a Frenchman.
Rugby is one of the most popular sports in Georgia. The national team qualified for the Rugby World Cup four times, first in 2003 – playing against rugby powers such as England and South Africa. The Lelos recorded their first ever World Cup win in 2007 Rugby World Cup, where they beat Namibia 30–0. As of 6 February 2017, Georgia are ranked 12th in the world by World Rugby. Since 2013, Georgia has hosted the World Rugby Tbilisi Cup.

History

Soviet era

There were several unsuccessful attempts to introduce a rugby union into Georgia, the earliest known being in 1928, with subsequent attempts also in 1940 and in 1948. Rugby was introduced to Georgia by Jacques Haspekian, an Armenian man from Marseilles in France who taught the game to students in the late 1950s through to the mid-1960s, although he then subsequently returned in France. He is still alive and living in Marseilles, he was interviewed on French radio on the occasion of Georgia playing France in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The very first rugby session was held on October 15, 1959 in Tbilisi, at the racecourse, where 20 people attended the meeting. The first Georgian club formed was the GPI, now known as "Qochebi".
Rugby's popularity in Georgia might be explained by its resemblance to the traditional Georgian game named "Lelo" or "Lelo Burti". This game was played in Georgia from ancient times and is still played on occasions in rural areas. A field was selected between two river creeks which represented a playing ground. Two teams, usually consisting of the male population of neighboring villages, would face each other. The number of players from each side was not set, but included any able men each village could summon. A large, heavy ball was placed in the middle of the field and the goal of the game was to carry it over the river creek of the opposing side.
The first teams appeared in 1959. The Georgia Rugby Union was founded in 1964, but until the late 1980s it was part of the Soviet Union's rugby federation. The rugby union connection between France and Georgia started as links were established by the then powerful French Communist Party and many other left-wing organisations. Georgia initially did not have its own team and its best players would play for the USSR team.
In 1988 Georgia produced their first national sevens side. In September 1989, Georgia got together with other FIRA countries to host a tour by Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's first match on the tour was in the wet against Georgia in Kutaisi, west of Tbilisi, which Georgia won 16–3. The next year Georgia went to Zimbabwe where they played two tests, losing the first in Bulawayo and winning the second 26–10 in Harare.

1990s

On 9 April 1991 Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union. Georgia was now a rugby union nation but getting matches was not easy: the old Soviet team continued under the name Commonwealth of Independent States. Georgia were limited to the odd game against Ukraine until they gained membership of the World Rugby in 1992.
French coach, Claude Saurel, first arrived in Georgia in 1997 with a brief to assess the standard of sport; he and his development team have helped boost the profile of the sport. Saurel went on to work with the Georgia national rugby sevens team, until he was appointed as the national coach in the summer of 1999.
Georgia's 1998 loss to Romania saw them play a two legged repechage play-off against Tonga to qualify for the 1999 World Cup. On that occasion Georgia lost the first leg 37–6 in Nukualofa before a 28–27 win in Tbilisi. This was not enough and Georgia failed to qualify.

2000s: World Cup play

After France and Italy dropped from the reborn European Nations Cup, Georgia became a major force in the tournament. In 2000, Georgia finished second in the competition, finishing behind Romania. The following year, Georgia improved upon this, winning all five of their matches during the 2000–01 tournament, and thus finishing at the top of the table. They clinched the title by beating Romania away 31–20 on the final day.
Rugby union took off in the country, the travel and opportunities to land lucrative contracts in France made rugby union a glamorous pursuit in Georgia. Georgia placed second in the 2001–02 tournament. When Georgia played Russia in the European Nations Cup 65,000 people crammed into the national stadium in Tbilisi.
Georgian first made an impact at Rugby Sevens by finishing a respectable 10th in the 2001 edition of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Argentina.
In October 2002 Georgia faced Russia, in what was at the time one of the most important clashes ever between the two national sides. The victorious nation would head to the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and the loser would be relegated to fight it out for a repechage position. Neither nation had ever been to a World Cup, though Georgia had come close in 1999. 50,000 spectators turned out to the national stadium. Both nations kicked penalty goals in the first half, but Russia moved ahead with a 13–9 lead through a try, but Georgia were able to score a try of their own just before half time, with Levan Tsabadze putting them in front 14–13 at the break. Georgia held on, winning 17–13, a victory which sparked celebrations throughout the capital. Three of the 75 French-based Georgian players were denied permission to play in the tournament and were suspended. Another five were sacked and arrived in Australia as free agents. In a warm-up game held in Asti the Georgians lost to Italians 31–22.
In the 2003 Rugby World Cup, Georgia were grouped into pool C alongside giants – South Africa and England. They suffered their heaviest ever defeat when beaten by England 84–6 in their opening game. In their second match, Samoa comfortably eased to a 46–9 victory. Although they performed well against the Springboks they were disappointingly defeated by Uruguay 24–12, in a match that they were expected to win. They lost all four of their matches but had impressed against South Africa. Despite the sad financial state of their union, qualification has seen the sport's profile rise throughout Georgia.
In the 2007 Rugby World Cup Georgia were drawn against Argentina, Ireland, Namibia and tournament hosts France in Pool D.
The team recorded their first win in the rugby world cup with a 30–0 win over Namibia in their Pool D match at Stade Felix-Bollaert. The foundation for the victory was laid by Georgia's experienced forward pack who wore down their opponents at the breakdown. The 2007 world cup campaign is also well remembered for Georgians by brilliant display against Ireland, where Georgia narrowly lost the match 10–14. The tournament was over with 7–64 defeat to hosts France on 30 September.

2010–present

At 2011 Rugby World Cup, Georgia's Pool B included England, Argentina and Scotland, as well as local rivals Romania. Despite the close nature of their pool, Georgia were impressive in all matches, including a tight match against Scotland which was lost 15–6, thus missing a bonus point narrowly and a 41–10 loss against England, which featured a man-of-the-match performance by flanker Mamuka Gorgodze. Georgia went on to record only their second ever Rugby World Cup win against Romania, winning 25–9 with another man-of-the-match performance by Mamuka Gorgodze. Georgia finished their campaign with a strong showing against Argentina, leading 7–5 at half time before conceding 20 unanswered points to lose 25–7. Thus Georgia finished their campaign with 1 win and 3 losses.
In the 2015 Rugby World Cup Georgia played against Tonga, Argentina, title holders New Zealand and the top African qualifier Namibia in Pool C.
The group opener finished with Georgia's 17–10 victory against Tonga. It totally paid off for what the Lelos have worked so hard during RWC preparations. With this history-maker fixture, they won the third World Cup match in the history of Georgian Rugby.
Georgia lost second match against Argentina 9–54, although in the first half finished 14–9 for the Pumas. In the third match Georgia were defeated by New Zealand 43–10 in Cardiff. Again in the first half The Lelos held very well against the mighty All Blacks, with score remaining 22–10 for the world champions.
In the last match Georgia defeated Namibia 17–16, for the first time ever finished the group on third place with two wins and two defeats and secured their qualification for 2019 Rugby World Cup.
In 2016, Georgia once again cemented its claim to be the seventh best national rugby team in Europe, when they won the European Nations Cup for the sixth consecutive time, with 10 wins from 10 matches. In the 2016 mid-year internationals the Lelos traveled to the Pacific islands for the first time and finished the historic tour unbeaten with 19–19 draw against Samoa, 23–20 victory against Tonga and 14–3 victory against Fiji.

Lelo

The team's nickname, The Lelos, comes from lelo burti, a traditional Georgian sport with strong similarities to rugby. Lelo has been adopted as the Georgian word for try. One standard cheer of Georgian rugby union fans is Lelo, Lelo, Sakartvelo.

Record

Overall

Georgia has won 140 of their 225 representative matches, a winning record of 62.22%. Since World Rankings were introduced by World Rugby in September 2003, Georgia have occupied below number ten the majority of the time.
Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Georgia national team at test level up until 16 September 2019.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
	5	0	5	0	0.00%	66	186	−120
Argentina XV	3	2	1	0	66.67%	54	61	−7
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	8	27	−19
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	19	28	−9
	6	6	0	0	100.00%	254	31	+223
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	70	8	+62
	7	4	3	0	57.14%	145	141	+4
	2	1	1	0	50.00%	53	36	+17
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	29	15	+14
	8	8	0	0	100.00%	310	58	+252
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	19	8	+11
	2	0	2	0	0.00%	16	125	−109
	4	1	3	0	25%	58	109	−51
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	7	64	−57
French Barbarians	1	1	0	0	100.00%	16	15	+1
French Universities	1	1	0	0	100.00%	24	20	+4
	8	8	0	0	100.00%	418	35	+383
	4	0	4	0	0.00%	31	196	−165
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	5	40	−35
Emerging Ireland	2	0	2	0	0.00%	27	65	−38
	2	0	2	0	0.00%	59	39	−20
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	7	51	−44
	5	2	3	0	40.00%	71	83	−12
	2	1	1	0	50.00%	44	36	+8
	6	1	5	0	16.67%	96	150	−54
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	17	5	+12
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	28	3	+25
	1	0	0	1	0.00%	10	10	+0
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	47	5	+42
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	20	10	+10
	5	4	1	0	80.00%	112	73	+39
	4	3	1	0	75.00%	164	64	+100
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	10	43	−33
	2	0	2	0	0.00%	29	52	−23
	21	15	4	2	70.00%	508	292	+216
	24	14	9	1	62.5%	476	394	+82
	23	21	1	1	90.91%	579	260	+319
	5	3	1	1	60.00%	91	115	−24
	4	0	4	0	0.00%	41	138	−97
	2	1	1	0	50.00%	25	90	−65
	1	0	1	0	0.00%	19	46	−27
South Africa A	1	0	1	0	0.00%	17	31	−14
Southern Kings	2	1	1	0	50.00%	41	51	−10
South Africa President's XV	1	0	1	0	0.00%	16	21	−5
Emerging Springboks	2	0	2	0	0.00%	10	35	−25
	21	17	3	1	80%	637	300	+337
	1	1	0	0	100.00%	22	21	+1
	7	5	2	0	71.43%	119	141	−22
	9	9	0	0	100.00%	281	63	+218
	6	3	3	0	50.00%	117	146	−29
	6	4	2	0	66.7%	118	79	+39
	2	0	2	0	0.00%	20	56	−36
	3	2	1	0	66.67%	58	35	+23
Total	228	143	78	7	62.22%	5388	4071	+1317

World Cup

Georgia has competed in four Rugby World Cup tournaments. Their first appearance was in 2003 when they were placed in Pool C with England, South Africa, Uruguay and Samoa. In 2007 Georgia recorded their first win in the Rugby World Cup with a 30–0 win over Namibia in their Pool D match at Stade Bollaert-Delelis. The Lelos best performance was in 2015, where they finished third in a group for the first time. Georgia have to date won four World Cup matches and lost twelve.

Rugby Europe Championship

Georgia compete annually in the Rugby Europe Championship. They have won the tournament twelve times in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020
Results correct up until 18 March 2018

Season
2000	5	3	0	2	145	105	+73	11	2nd
2001	5	5	0	0	167	68	+99	15	1st
2002	5	3	1	1	184	84	+100	12	2nd
2003–04	10	5	1	4	193	148	+45	21	3rd
2005–06	10	8	0	2	353	125	+228	26	2nd
2007–08	10	9	0	1	292	114	+178	28	1st
2009–2010	10	8	1	1	328	130	+198	27	1st
2011–2012	10	9	0	1	316	83	+233	42	1st
2013–2014	10	9	1	0	286	106	+180	41	1st
2015–2016	10	10	0	0	346	75	+276	45	1st
2017	5	4	0	1	136	44	+123	19	1st
2018	5	5	0	0	188	35	+153	24	1st
2019	5	5	0	0	162	34	+128	24	1st
2020	5								1st
Total	95	78	4	13	2934	1117	+1817	311	1st

Antim Cup

The Antim Cup is contested between Georgia and Romania each time the teams meet in a senior international match other than World Cup matches or qualifiers. The holder retains the cup unless the challenger wins the match, and there is no extra time in case of a draw. It is named after the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Anthim the Iberian, who came from Georgia.

Players

Current squad

Georgia`s squad for the 2020 Rugby Europe Championship.
Head Coach: Levan Maisashvili
Caps updated: 17 February 2020

Recent call ups

Past 2 years
Caps updated: 27 January 2020