Culture
Play Style
Rugby is the national sport of Georgia, so put because of its similarities to an ancient Georgian sport called LeLo. Lelo was traditionally played by rival villages, and could get very violent. A ball was fashioned from wheels of cheese with wine hidden in the middle, the villages would position themselves between opposing rivers with the goal to get the ball to the other village's river. The winning village got to celebrate by eating the cheese and wine, as well as having the pride of defeating there rival neighbours. Rugby is seen to hold many of the same attributes as LeLo, namely the physicality and bitter rivalry. The Georgian national team are referred to as the Lelos due to their strong ties with their roots. During the times of the cold war in 1949 there was a decline of rugby in Georgia because the Soviet Union saw the sport as western, although the game recommenced in 1957 after Stalin left power.
Georgian rugby has always been a very physical game, because of its connections with LeLo. The Georgian team relies heavily on its pack were all its star players are, although their backline is equally physical. Because of this Georgia tend to play a defensive game pressuring their opponents into making mistakes before pouncing on the ball and setting up phase play. Another key asset to the Georgian team are its set plays particularly the scrum. The IRB has invested in Georgia building a state of the art training facility after there hosting of the Junior World Rugby Trophy competition in 2011. Despite this the majority of the clubs still use older methods of training the scrum, which effectively strengthens the Georgian pack without the price of other countries technology.
Marco Fieber
Fast Facts:
Players: 6,708
RWC Results: Fourth in pool 2011, 2007
Best Result 2014: Vs. Romania 22-9
IRB World Ranking: 15th with 70.46 points
Coach: Milton Haig Captain: Irakli Machkaneli