The Georgian national rugby union team returned to the “National” stadium after a 3-year break and beat Canada 19:15. “The Lelos” have lost no matches on this stadium for the last 10 years. This tradition keeps going on.
The Georgian rugby players lost on this stadium in 2003. We lost to Romania then. Before this match Georgia lost to Romania in 2000. The South African club “Blue Bulls” also won a match on the “National”. The Russian and the Portuguese teams played draws. This is the stadium where the Georgian national team plays with different mood.
“The National” stadium – later, it was renamed “Dinamo Arena”, means that the Georgian national teams must play there. Besides that, the rugby players deserve it with their devoted play. It will be good if “The Lelos” will play on this stadium in the future.
Not only the aura is the guarantee of success. In spite of rainy weather, a lot of spectators came to the “National” than they gather on “Mikheil Meskhi” in good weather. The Georgian fans support the Georgian rugby players so much that they are unbeaten on this stadium for the last 10 years.
Of course, devoted play of the team is the guarantee of success. “The Lelos” did not play well in the first half against Canada. But in the second half they played absolutely incredible and defeated the opponent which is ahead of us in the ranking. Perhaps, it was not maximum of our team and I think, the spectators are expecting more. However, “The Lelos” won over “Maple Leafs” and achieved the goal.
Twice as many people attended the match than last year against Japan and Fiji on “Mikheil Meskhi”. We can divide the match in two parts – the first half where we could do nothing and the second one where the Georgian national team beat the opponent. Claude Saurel, former coach of “The Lelos” attended the match. He was satisfied with the play of the Georgians and congratulated Milton Haig on success.
The Georgian national team was preparing in sunny weather for the whole week but it started raining one hour before the start of the match. There was a doubt that it will cause problems to our team and it partly justified. But neither Canada played in comfortable conditions. Despite that, the opponent gained playing and territorial advantage in the first 40 minutes and we were lucky to finish the first half with 3-point difference.
Merab Kvirikashvili made good tactical shots with foot. The North American team had a problem at the 2nd minute when Kvirikashvili scored penalty. The match went on with foot. Levan Datunashvili tackled the opponent from offside.
This time Liam Underwood could not kick the ball well but when the math was resumed Conor Trainor started a good offence but he was stopped. Soon Underwood restored balance. At the beginning of the match the scrums of the both teams played well and none of them gained advantage in this component. Kvirikashvili missed penalty from 37 meters.
The Canadians started another dangerous offence at the 15th minute but they could not use this chance to score a try. The Georgian team broke the law of the match in three minutes and Underwood advanced his team from 22 meters.
“The Lelos” could not even approach 22 of the opponent but made good combinations. Kvirikashvili restored balance from 33 meters. At the 26th minute the Canadians made mistake and “Meko” scored penalty – 9:6.
Unfortunately, Irakli Machkhaneli, captain of the Georgian national team, hurt his foot and Tedo Zibzibadze replaced him. Mamuka Gorgodze captained the team. Canada scored two penalties in the last 10 minutes. Underwood restored balance at the 32nd minute. The situation was tense at the 36th minute. Viktor Kolelishvili tackled Underwood in the throat and the referee whistled penalty. Perhaps, the Georgian rugby player would have been sin-binned but the Canadian captain Tyler Ardron started beating Kolelishvili. The both teams were involved in the fight and the match stopped for some minutes.
The referee showed red cards to Kolelishvili and Ardron. Underwood and Ray Barkwill were substituted due to injuries. Before that, Harry Jones scored penalty and Canada won the half 12:9.
The Georgian team started the second half more aggressively. The Canadians made more mistakes and the Georgians gained advantage.
Two minutes after the resumption of the match the aggressive defense made “Maple Leafs” make mistakes. At the 50th minute Giorgi Begadze broke the line and assisted Tedo Zibzibadze. Mamuka Gorgodze received the ball but could not score a try.
Gorgodze improved his mistake by a strong shot. Khmaladze assisted Kvirikashvili, Kvirikashvili – Zibzibadze and he scored a try. The referee checked this moment and the Georgian national team advanced 16:12.
At the 56th minute the Canadians had the first chance in the second half to score a try. Trainor broke the line and assisted Phil Mack. Khmaladze tackled the Canadian but this offence was followed by penalty and Jones minimized the difference. The Georgian team scored a penalty in five minutes and Kvirikashvili brought us 4-point difference.
The Georgians had advantage in the last 20 minutes and had a chance to score a try. Gorgodze assisted Shalva Sutiashvili. Kvirikashvili could not score a penalty. The Canadians needed a try to win the match but the Georgians played so well in defense that they did not let the Canadians do it. The time was up and the Georgian national team won the first test-match of November 19:15.
Giorgi Begadze was named as the best rugby player of the match. “Art-Time” gave him a watch as a present. Now “The Lelos” will rest a little and then, they will prepare for November 16. The Georgian team will face the USA on the Rustavi stadium. The match will start at 14:00.
The Georgian national team will earn 1,2 points in IRB ranking and will keep the 16th place.
Press conference
Kieran Crowley (head coach of the Canadian national team): “I am satisfied with the first half but we did nothing in the second one. We tried to play quickly but often dropped the ball. Our goal was to win the match but the Georgian national team played better than us and deserved this victory”.
Tyler Ardron (captain of the Canadian national team): “We wanted to win today but the Georgian national team played well. They won more than we lost”.
Milton Haig (head coach of the Georgian national team): “We won the match but I am not completely satisfied. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half. We could have played better. The boys were disappointed while the break but I gave them instructions, kept the ball and here is the result. The first half was played in our half. The rain caused mistakes as well. The ball and the stadium were wet. Overall, I am satisfied with the result.
Irakli Machkhaneli hurt his ankle and he is going for a medical check. We do not know if he will play next week. But I have not thought about his substitution. As for the incident in the first half, I know, you, Georgians are fighters but rugby lover would not like it. It does not happen at international level. We must learn how to be patient and if Vito had been patient, perhaps, he would have been sin-binned”.
Shalva Sutiashvili (rugby player of the Georgian national team): “We played against Canada for the fourth time and equalized the score (2:2). In my opinion, today the Canadian team was stronger than last year. The weather worsened our play. We have been preparing in the sun for the whole week and it rained today. It caused us problems but we changed the playing style in the second half and gained victory. I want to thank those people who supported us till the end. I promise the fans that we will fight till the end against the USA and will try to make them happy again. I think, we will play better in a week”.
9 November
Tbilisi. “Dinamo Arena”. Test-match. 15000 spectators
Georgia - Canada 19:15 (9:12)
Georgia: 15 . Merab Kvirikashvili, 14. Irakli Machkhaneli (22. Tedo Zibzibadze 28), 13. Davit Kacharava, 12. Merab Sharikadze, 11. Tamaz Mchedlidze, 10. Lasha Khmaladze, 9. Giorgi Begadze; 1. Mikheil Nariashvili (17. Davit Khinchigashvili 58), 2. Shalva Mamukashvili (16. Simon Maisuradze 73), 3. Davit Kubriashvili (18. Levan Chilachava 58), 4. Konstantine Mikautadze (19. Shalva Sutiashvili 67), 5. Levan Datunashvili (20. Giorgi Tkhilaishvili 78), 6. Viktor Kolelishvili, 7. Mamuka Gorgodze, 8. Giorgi Chkhaidze.
Substitutes: 21. Vazha Khutsishvili, 23. Beka Tsiklauri.
1 try: Zibzibadze
1 conversion: Kvirikashvili
4 penalties: Kvirikashvili
Sin-binned: Kolelishvili
Head coach: Milton Haig (New Zealand)
Coaches: Ilia Maisuradze, Ilia Zedginidze, Michael Bradley (Ireland), Didier Bassy (France)
Canada: 15. Matt Evans, 14. Jeff Hassler, 13. Conor Trainor, 12. Harry Jones, 11. Phil Mackenzie, 10. Liam Underwood (22. Nick Blevins 36), 9. Phil Mack; 1. Hubert Buydens, 2. Ray Barkwill (16. Jake Illnicki 36), 3. Andrew Tiedemann (17. Djustice Sears-Duru 41), 4. Jon Phelan, 5. Brett Buekeboom, 6. Jebb Sinclair, 7. John Moonlight, 8. Tyler Ardron (cap.).
Substitutes: 18. Benoit Piffero, 19. Tyler Hotson, 20. Adam Kleeberger, 21. Jamie Mackenzie, 23. James Pritchard.
5 penalties: Underwood (3), Jones (2)
Sin-binned: Ardron
Head coach: Kieran Crowley (New Zealand)
Referee: Lawrence Van Der Merwe (South Africa)
Linesmen: Dudley Phillips (Ireland), Vlad Iordacheschu (Romania)
Zura Ksovreli
