Rugby: Rugby-Georgia desperate to show their quality against Fiji

LYON, France (Reuters) -Georgia coach Levan Maisashvili has rejigged his backline after his side’s disappointing World Cup draw against Portugal as the Lelos look to finally show what they are capable of against Fiji in their third Pool C match on Saturday.

The ambitious Georgians were hugely disappointed with their 35-15 opening loss to Australia, a feeling compounded when they raced to a 13-0 lead against Portugal last week only to have to settle for an 18-18 draw.

“Any result other than winning against Portugal would be the same as a defeat. It had an impact on the players, on myself, it wasn’t pleasant,” Maisashvili told reporters in Bordeaux on Thursday.

“We all know that in rugby it’s a fight and every time you fall down, you have to get back on track. Every single player will give everything, we are 100% ready to give our best to show the type of Georgian rugby that we are proud of.”

Prop Mikheil Nariashvili will captain the much-changed side at Stade de Bordeaux in place of centre Merab Sharikadze, who is one of a number of Georgian players nursing injuries.

Luka Matkava and Vaso Lobzhanidze return at flyhalf and scrumhalf respectively, while the highly-rated Davit Niniashvili moves from fullback to the left wing.

In the back row, Tornike Jalaghonia, who has not missed a tackle yet at the tournament, shifts from blindside flanker back to number eight with Mikheil Gachechiladze replacing him in the number six shirt in his first appearance of the tournament.

Prop Irakli Aptsiauri came in as a squad injury replacement this week and has been rushed straight into the team as a front-row reserve.

Fiji were convincing 45-10 winners in the meeting between the teams in the pool stage of the 2019 World Cup but Georgia held the Pacific islanders to a 15-15 draw in a 2021 test.

“If we want to have the result we’re waiting for, we’ll have to be strong everywhere, in attack and defence,” Maisashvili added.

“That is our plan, to be strong everywhere, at the front and the back.”

Team:

15-Mirian Modebadze, 14-Akaki Tabutsadze, 13-Demur Tapladze, 12-Giorgi Kveseladze, 11-Davit Niniashvili, 10-Luka Matkava, 9-Vaso Lobzhanidze, 8-Tornike Jalaghonia, 7-Beka Saginadze, 6-Mikheil Gachechiladze, 5-Kote Mikautadze, 4-Lasha Jaiani, 3-Beka Gigashvili, 2-Tengizi Zamtaradze, 1-Mikheil Nariashvili

Replacements: 16-Luka Nioradze, 17-Nika Abuladze, 18-Irakli Aptsiauri, 19-Nodar Cheishvili, 20-Luka Ivanishvili, 21-Gela Aprasidze, 22-Tedo Abzhandadze, 23-Tornike Kakhoidze

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)