Official website of International Rugby Board (IRB) started summarizing important events of 2010 at the end of last year. An article about those 8 national teams which won a right to participate in World Championship with successful playing was published on the website. Georgian national team is among those 8 teams:
"After European Championship, soon Georgian national team won a right to participate in World Cup. Two rounds before the end of the qualifying round, Georgians beat Spanish team 17:9 at the national stadium in Tbilisi. It was obvious that Georgians would take one from the first two places. It was the 7th victory of "The Lelos" within 8 matches (one match finished draw against Portugal) and they went through World Cup three times in a row.
"I am not a head coach of Georgian team anymore but I understand their happiness very well. I am sure none of the teams will hold an easy match against them because Georgians proved their strength with going through World Cup three times in a row. The name of Georgia will be announced on the international arena once again" - stated Tim Lane, former head coach of Georgian team, who was substituted by Scottish Richard Dixon not long ago.
In the last round of the qualifying stage where Georgian and Russian teams played against each other, not only winner of "Nations Cup" was to be found out but also who would become the first and the second European team and in which group would teams play at World Cup 2011. Georgian team beat its opponent 36:8 and got in Group B in New Zealand where England, Argentina, Scotland and winner of play off Romania will be opponents of Georgia. The match against Russia was held in the city of Turkey, Trabzon and 6 000 Georgian fans attended the match. Despite the political rivalry which was caused by Russian-Georgian war in 2008, the match was held on high level and the teams fought devotedly.
"Our goal was to win a right to participate in World Cup once again and I am glad that we managed to achieve our goal. Now we should play suitably at the final stage. Playing at World Cup again means increasing popularity of rugby in Georgia. As for me, I am happy that I am a part of this process and I want to thank everyone who supported us during this whole period" - stated former captain of Georgian national team Ilia Zedginidze".




Prepared by Zura Ksovreli