Gloucester: Back in Tbilisi, they reckoned Saturday’s Rugby World Cup win over Tonga was Georgia’s greatest sporting triumph since Dinamo Tbilisi won the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1981.
Mamuka Gorgodze called his parents, who told him that the nation’s capital city was a blaze of car horns tooting, flags waving, and people revelling in the streets.
Such were the emotions wrung from Georgia’s victory, the biggest triumph in their rugby history. The question now is: what next?
Georgia’s victory in Gloucester — a mature, well-rounded display with outstanding defence and impressive levels of fitness — lifts them above Italy in the provisional world rankings.
And, with a growing Georgian contingent populating the Top 14 — though mostly props, to be fair — how long until they are knocking on the door of the Six Nations?
“Why not?” Gorgodze, the captain, replied when the question was put to him. “For the moment we must play against teams like Canada, Japan and Tonga before we go to play against the Six Nations. We are still developing our rugby, it’s still growing, and this was a huge step forward.”
Milton Haig was more circumspect. The Georgia coach said: “We have taken the first step, but there is still a fair bit to go in this tournament. I don’t think we’ve reached the next level.
“Our goal is competing consistently with the top eight teams in the world. When you can defeat a team like Argentina, Scotland, Samoa, then you can talk about the next level.”
The New Zealander added: “It’s about being consistent with your Test wins. We’re pretty good at winning one or two a year against higher-ranked teams, but our goal is to compete consistently with the top eight teams in the world.
“There is still a lot of water under the bridge for that to happen.”
By coincidence, Argentina will be Georgia’s next opponents when they return to Kingsholm on Friday. There, Georgia could take an even bigger step towards not just an unlikely quarter-final, but a seat at European rugby’s top table.
— The Daily Telegraph
