The Georgian national rugby union team defeated Spain 24:17 in Spain but could not gain bonus point, lost the first place and must beat Romania in Tbilisi to keep Nations Cup.

The fact that we could not gain bonus point would not have been pity but playing quality was not good. The lack of hard work caused bad playing quality and it has several reasons. Milton Haig let some leading rugby players to have a rest before the match against Romania and the reserves could not replace them well. However, this team was able to score four tries against Spain.

It did not happen because the team looked kind of relaxed. The team lacked the aggression which is important for holding a match at high level. Besides that, the Georgian national team is not the team which can do its best in every match.

The fact that the Georgian team is able to concentrate for the matches of principal gives us hope that different Georgian team will play on “Mikheil Meskhi” in a week. Besides that, the leaders will be back in the team and it will increase playing quality. Romania has a strong team this year. Draw will be good for the Romanians. So, Haig has to hold big work during the whole week. 

We mentioned lack of aggression and concentration and it caused mistakes while assists, catching the ball and playing with foot. This match showed that No.9 is still a problem in the team. Besides that, some rugby players held a bad match and they have to work on themselves.

Besides everything, Spain cannot even come close to Georgia. If not some mistakes at the end of the match which ended up with two tries, “The Lelos” would have achieved victory without any problem. The leaders decided the fate of the match at the expense of individual play.

At the beginning of the match the hosts could not escape from their half. In spite of this, there were a lot of mistakes and penalties. In the first 20 minutes referee had to stop the match 10 times. A good scrum of Spain was a surprise. Spain made “The Lelos” commit foul twice but then, everything was in its place.

When the hosts decided to start offence from their half, they committed foul at the 9^th minute and Merab Kvirikashvili scored penalty. Soon Kvirikashvili had another chance to increase the score but he missed penalty from 40 meters. At the third try the Georgians beat the opponent in scrum and gained a right to kick a penalty. This time Kvirikashvili scored it.

The guests had advantage and were close to scoring a try when Tamaz Mchedlidze broke the line and assisted Mamuka Gorgodze who grounded the ball. As there is no video referee at Nations Cup, the Welsh referee asked his assistant and awarded the opponent with scrum.

This offence did not finish without a point. Kvirikashvili scored a drop goal from 15 meters and the score became 9:0. “The Lelos” tried to use wings and all Georgians were waiting for a try but everything turned upside down. At the 33^rd minute Lasha Khmaladze was assisting Kvirikashvili when Cesar Sempere caught the ball and scored try. Mathieu Peluchon used conversion. This confused the Georgians and the Spaniards started playing well. Marco Pinto tackled Vazha Khutsishvili so that the Georgian dropped the ball.

In this episode the Georgian team committed foul. Spain threw the ball out. Then, Charlie Malie kicked the ball. Irakli Machkhaneli and Kvirikashvili could not figure out who had to catch the ball and Peluchon caught it. He scored try which was followed by the conversion. The Spaniards won the first half 14:9.

At the beginning of the second half the Georgian rugby players committed three mistakes. High level team would not forgive us those mistakes but fortunately, Spain was our opponent. At the 50^th minute Pinto was sin-binned and the Georgians used numerical advantage.

Gorgodze started offence but he was stopped. Then, Khutsishvili made a mistake but somehow the Georgians managed to score try – Gorgodze grounded the ball. As a result of it, Gorgodze and Irakli Machkhaneli have scored equal number of tries (24-24) in the Georgian team. Kvirikashvili could not use conversion.

The substitutes played well and the Georgians scored the second try. Giorgi Tkhilaishvili was the author of the try. It was his first try in the national team. This time Kvirikashvili scored conversion and the score was 21:14 at the 57^th minute.

We hoped for other two tries but Spain attacked us and had a chance to score the try. However, Tedo Zibzibadze managed to improve the situation. Then, Kvirikashvili scored penalty from 40 meters and the Georgians gained 10-point advantage. At the 70^th minute Kvirikashvili kicked another penalty but missed it.

At the 75^th minute Anton Peikrishvili was sin-binned. The Spaniards scored penalty and minimized the score. Finally, the Georgian national team won the match 24:17. So, Spain gained bonus point, is 5 points ahead of Belgium and will go on playing at this level. Belgium will go back to lower division.

The 2014 European Nations Cup. The 2015 World Cup qualifying

II circle. IV round

March 8

Spain. Madrid. Estadio Nacional Universidad Complutense

Spain – Georgia 17:24 (14:9)

Spain: 15. Mathieu Peluchon, 14. Marcos Poggi, 13. Cesar Sempere, 12. Daniel Snee (21. Jaime Nava 58), 11. Pierre Belzunce (22. Matias Tudela 72), 10. Charlie Malie, 9. Guillaume Rouet (20. Pablo Feijoo 60); 1. Franck Labbe, 2. Benat Auzqui, (23. Agustin Ortiz 69), 3. Jesus Moreno (16. Marco Pinto 31), 4. Anibal Bonan (19. David Barrera 54), 5. Jesus Recuerda (cap.), 6. Matthew Cook, 7. Gauthier Gibouin, 8. Federico Negrillo (18. Damian Elgoyhen 48).

Did not play: 17. Francisco Sanz.

2 tries: Sempere, Peluchon

2 conversions: Peluchon

1 penalty: Peluchon

1 sin-bin: Pinto

Head coach: Santiago Santos

Georgia: 15. Merab Kvirikashvili, 14. Irakli Machkhaneli (cap.), 13. Tedo Zibzibadze, 12. Merab Sharikadze, 11. Tamaz Mchedlidze, 10. Lasha Khmaladze, 9. Vazha Khutsishvili; 1. Zurab Zhvania, 2. Jaba Bregvadze (16. Shalva Mamukashvili 48), 3. Levan Chilachava (18. Anton Peikrishvili 48), 4. Giorgi Nemsadze, 5. Kote Mikautadze, 6. Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 7. Mamuka Gorgodze, 8. Giorgi Chkhaidze.

Substitutes: 17. Karlen Aseishvili, 19. Shalva Sutiashvili, 20. Givi Berishvili, 21. Giorgi Begadze, 22. Lasha Malaghuradze, 23. Beka Tsiklauri.

2 tries: Gorgodze, Tkhilaishvili

1 conversion: Kvirikashvili

3 penalties: Kvirikashvili

1 drop goal: Kvirikashvili

1 sin-binned: Peikrishvili

Head coach: Milton Haig

Referee: Neil Hennessy (Wales)

Assistants: Greg Morgan, Hugh Lewis

Russia – Portugal 34:18

Romania – Belgium 29:10

Next round. March 15

Georgia – Romania

Portugal – Spain

Belgium – Russia

Zura Ksovreli