Georgia borrows a bit from the French

By CHRIS RATTUE

This is the first major sporting tournament a Georgian team have qualified for, and there has been at least one encouraging sign for the side coached by Frenchman Claude Saurel.

When Georgia hired Saurel six years ago, he immediately sent 40 players followed by referees and coaches to his homeland to develop their skills.

As a result, 20 of their World Cup squad play in France - mainly in the lower divisions - where the Georgian team have completed their Cup preparations.

The encouraging sign came in their final warm-up match away to Italy, when they lost by just 31-22 despite having two players sin binned and one of those later sent off.

Italy might not be a great benchmark and Georgia were smashed 63-14 by Ireland in their European qualifying match.

Yet Georgia have some confidence, and flanker Gregoire Yachvili was recently quoted as saying the side could win two of their World Cup games - Uruguay and Samoa being the obvious targets.

Yachvili reflects the cross-border aspect of the World Cup. His father Michel played for France, and his younger brother Dimitri - a halfback - is in France's World Cup squad.

Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, and some French regions have historical connections - sharing bloodlines and having similar language, ball games, musical instruments, songs and dances.

It was Michel Yachvili's presence in the French team in the 1960s and 70s which encouraged Georgian interest in rugby.

And the efforts of a French-based Georgian businessman in arranging a match between Georgia and the Languedoc-Rousillon region of France helped keep the interest alive during the civil war of the 1990s.

Georgia, who lost a two-leg repechage to Tonga for a 1999 Cup place, traditionally relied on a strong scrum, the maul, and tactical kicking.

Saurel has tried to widen their approach, although their key players remain forwards such as No.8 and captain Ilia Zedguinidze and hard tacking flanker Grigol Labadze. They have a strong home audience, with 45,000 people packing a stadium in Tbilisi to watch Georgia beat Russia 17-13 last year on their way to Cup qualification.

They believe they can score a boilover victory against Samoa, who have lost players in the professional era.

If Georgia can upset Samoa, it will be another step towards their ambition of joining the Six Nations.

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