Georgia looking to upset Wales as they push for Six Nations inclusion

Milton Haig - Georgia are looking to upset Wales as they push for Six Nations inclusion
Milton Haig wants Georgia to keep knocking on Six Nations door Credit: Action Images

Georgia say are hoping to “make a statement” to World Rugby and to the Six Nations on Saturday when they face Wales at the Principality Stadium, with captain Merab Sharikadze adamant they can cause a huge upset.

The Lelos have won six of the past seven Rugby Europe Championships; are bankrolled by billionaire former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili; and made history at the World Cup in 2015 when they won two games to finish third in their group and ensure automatic qualification for Japan 2019.

But despite a groundswell of public support for their inclusion into the Six Nations – or at least the chance to compete through some sort of promotion and relegation playoff – they have found the doors of entry to what is effectively a private members’ club firmly barred.

Six Nations chief executive John Feehan said earlier this year there was no prospect of promotion-relegation happening in the “short to medium term”.

Feehan has yet even to accept an invitation to visit the country and experience Georgian rugby first hand. But Milton Haig, Georgia’s Kiwi head coach for the past six years, is ever optimistic.

“Yeah, we think it is, absolutely,” Haig replied on Friday when asked by Telegraph Sport whether he felt a visit from Feehan and the Six Nations bigwigs was long overdue. “We would like to invite him out there – I already have but have not had a reply yet. Hopefully one day. [If they visit] they will get on the plane two days later with very happy faces, that’s for sure.”

Another thing that is for sure: Wales are in danger of under-estimating Georgia. Eyebrows were raised this week when Warren Gatland made 14 changes to the team who lost narrowly against Australia last weekend; full-back Liam Williams the only survivor as Gatland tries to save his stars for the All Blacks and South Africa in the next fortnight.

Gatland has decided to hand Ospreys flanker Sam Cross – an Olympic ­silver medallist in rugby sevens – his first international start after just a handful of union starts, along with prop Leon Brown, second row Adam Beard and centre Owen W­atkin.

Wales are still heavy favourites, of course, but Georgia are in good nick, having pummelled Canada 54-22 in Tblisi last weekend. Strong up front as ever – most of their forwards play at a high level in France – they are starting to throw it around a bit in the backs, too.

Haig has named an unchanged team and you can sense they smell blood in the water.

“We are in really good form,” said Sharikadze after taking his team on the captain's run. “We will show that ­tomorrow. Nowadays, we don’t get too many opportunities to play against tier one nations, so the game is really, really important for us.”

Haig said he was particularly anxious not to waste this opportunity after being thrashed 43-16 by Scotland last autumn. “We felt we didn’t do ourselves justice last year so we don’t want to make that mistake again,” he said. “We’re a different team, and the boys come here with a bit of confidence.”

In a nice little subplot, Wales and Georgia are in the same pool at the World Cup. Haig, though, said the most important thing was the here and now; to try to make a statement so that their lobbying of World Rugby and Six Nations had some credibility.

“The message to World Rugby is that we deserve to have more of these [games against tier one nations],” he said. “We only get that credibility if we perform well, it's as simple as that. And yes, we also see this as an opportunity to keep those conversations around Six Nations being discussed."

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