Georgia - The Lelos

Team Preview

Coach:
Malkhaz Cheishvili

Previous World Cups:
2003

Best Performance:
Pool Stage 2003

Played:
4 - 0 wins, 4 losses

World Ranking:
No.17

Fixtures:
v Argentina, Lyon, September 11
v Ireland, Bordeaux, September 15
v Namibia, Lens, September 26
v France, Marseille, September 30
Squad:

Facts:
1. The Georgian national side is nicknamed 'the Lelos'. Lelo was a traditional Georgian game similar to rugby.
2. A former Soviet Republic, Georgia made its international bow in 1989.
3. The 2007 tournament is Georgia's second appearance in the World Cup and its second in succession after 2003.
4. Georgia won all five games and the title in the 2000/01 European Nations Cup.
5. Paliko Jimsheladze became the first Georgian player to earn 50 caps in 2006.

Key Players:

Georgia's injury-plagued captain Ilia Zedginidze will be hoping for a rather more successful World Cup adventure in France than he endured in Australia four years ago.

The 30-year-old lock saw his side, making its debut in the competition, concede 200 points and score just a single try as it was dumped out of the competition at the group stage.

But Zedginidze will find the going little easier this time around.

His side kicks off against Argentina, now very much a force to be reckoned with, when Zedginidze himself will come face to face with perhaps the toughest pack in international rugby.

Other Pool D opponents France and Ireland will be far too strong for Georgia as well, but the clash with Namibia, who it beat in the IRB Nations Cup in June, offers a genuine chance of recording its first World Cup win.

And at least the skipper knows what he will be in for after his experience Down Under.

On that occasion Zedginidze missed the Lelos' baptism of fire against eventual champions England, which ended in a crushing 84-6 defeat, before returning for their other three pool matches.

These they lost 46-9 to Samoa, 46-19 to South Africa and 24-12 to fellow minnows Uruguay.

But despite failing to pick up a point, Georgia showed signs of improvement as the 2003 World Cup progressed, albeit without ever coming close to winning, and the fact this year's tournament is taking place in the country where Zedginidze plays his club rugby can only make him even more determined to do well.

It is clearly going to be a significant step up in class though for a player who plies his trade in the French second division and whose international opponents in the run-up to the tournament have largely consisted of teams who will not even be competing in France.

Indeed, his appearances for his country in the run-up to the tournament have been limited.

Since helping them to an aggregate win over Portugal which secured qualification, Zedginidze has missed Georgia's European Nations Cup victories over the Czech Republic and Russia and its shock defeat to Spain, although he did play in the tournament opener, a narrow win over arch-rivals Romania.

He also did not appear in June's IRB Nations Cup, which included wins over Namibia and Italy A, instead taking on the role of team manager, but is expected to resume his normal duties for the World Cup.

Zedginidze, who made his international debut against Ireland in 1998 and has been a stalwart of the side ever since, is the epitome of the journeyman rugby player.

He has not spent more than one season at the same club since joining Toulon of Pro D2, the French Second Division, for the 2002-03 season.

The following year he moved to Rovigo in Italy's Super 10 before returning to France with Federal 2 side Orleans for the 2004-05 campaign.

Zedginidze - who is a graduate of the Tbilisi University of Foreign Diplomacy, a fact which may explain why he feels so at home in foreign leagues - moved back to Pro D2 with Aix a year later and started last season in the same league with Auch.

He goes into the World Cup on the back of a mixed season with Auch. On the one hand the club claimed the Pro D2 title for the second time in its history and along with it a place in the Top 14.

Auch stormed to the championship after winning 25 of its 30 matches to finish 12 points clear of nearest challengers US Dax and secure a return to the highest tier of French rugby at the first time of asking following relegation in 2006.

But on the other Zedginidze himself only played in nine of those games and spent just 402 minutes on the pitch - equivalent to a mere five whole matches - so his particular contribution to the title success was hardly decisive.

The previous year, at another Pro D2 club Aix, the situation was reversed. The Georgian stalwart was a far more influential figure, though in a struggling side.

He made 19 appearances and ran in three tries, but his contribution was not enough to help the team avoid the drop with a third-from-bottom finish spelling relegation to Federale 1, the French third tier.

The French fans may already know what he can do, having plied his trade in in the country for the past three seasons, but the World Cup offers Zedginidze the opportunity to show off his talents to a wider audience in what may well be his last chance to perform on the biggest stage.