Georgian national rugby union team will start preparation for Nations Cup 2013 and World Cup 2015 in Brussels on February 2.
At 18:00 Tbilisi time, “The Lelos” will hold the first qualifying match of Nations Cup and World Cup and they must return with 5 points. The Georgians must defeat their opponent and score four tries at least.
The Georgian national team has already proved that it is high class team at Nations Cup. “The Lelos” lost last four matches and it is time to stop this series. Losing to Belgium will lose our points on world ranking. It is a qualifying match of World Cup and we must not lose points.
Belgium does not have strong team but it does not matter. We all remember how we lost to Spain twice in Holland.
Even the Belgians do not have a hope to win but Belgian Rugby Union made great steps to develop rugby in the country and transferred French rugby players. Besides that, they want to prove that they deserve playing against strong teams. They have nothing to lose but if we make mistakes, it will be already late then.
Milton Haig let young rugby players distinguish themselves. It is a great risk but his behavior can be justified. The young rugby players can show what they can against the Belgians. It is a great honor for the Belgians to play against Mamuka Gorgodze who was the best sportsman of Georgia in 2011 and was named among the best European 15 rugby players.
We mentioned ranking where the Belgians have advantage. They moved from the 58th place to 21st and have 60,43 points. The Georgian team has regress since June. Now “The Lelos” are in the 17th place with 65,83 points. After the match they will be in the same place. But if they beat the opponent with less than 15 points, they will earn 0,76 points. But if they defeat with big score, they will earn 1,14 points. It will advance them on the ranking because the USA which is in the 16th place has 68,32 points.
The Georgians must be mobilized and must win over the Belgians will big score. They know each point can be decisive in the qualifying round of World Cup. It is very important to score four tries and gain bonus point.
Those two teams which will have the most points after two rounds will play at World Cup. The third-placed team of Nations Cup will have a chance to play in England.
We mentioned unsuccessful series and the Georgian team lost seven matches in a row in 2003-2004. Four matches were at World Cup. Now we lost two matches in June (against the USA and Canada) and two in November (against Japan and Fiji in Tbilisi). Now it is time to stop this series.
Giorgi Chkhaidze will be a captain of our team against the Belgians. It will be his 60th match.
Unfortunately, fans of rugby cannot watch live match on TV. On February 2 we can watch online on this streaming - http://www.e-k.tv/videos/299-belgian-rugby. Besides that, the Georgian side is also working on preparing streaming and its address will be known later.
Zura Ksovreli
