LELOS picked to face Russia
Wed, 27 February, 2002
ENC'2001 Champions, LELOS of Georgia entertain arch-rivals
Russia on Sunday, 3 March, 2002, at Tbilissi National
Stadium (capacity 65 thousand) in the ENC'2002 Round 3
crunch match. The game kicks-off, as usual, at 3 pm local
time, that is 11:00 GMT.
The Lelos (Sons of the Sun), back from their French clubs,
assembled at their Khedi hotel on Tue evening and held
first run on Wed morning, at Varketili farmyards. The
weather was inclement to the lads as a strong, chilly wind
was swirling around the Capital.
The squad is almost identical to one which ventured to
Portugal a fortnight ago. The only change is on the bench
as new-cap Sergo Gujaraidze (breeded by University club)
comes in at lock for injured Mamuka Magrakvelidze. In fact,
Lelos' French guru, M.Sourel would settle on run-on XV just
on Saturday evening as IRB's NON-Council members are yet to
comply with the '48-hour regulation'.
In meantime, exact whereabouts of Russia is not clear. They
are yet to respond to the Georgia RU's numerous enquiries
about their arrival time and hotel stay. GRU offered them
5-star Prima Vera and 4-star Sympathy, and expects that the
Russian party arrives late on Thu, 28 Feb.
There was a hint at Russia RU's official site's Guest-book
not a long time ago that the National team will be at camp
in Stanitsa Poltavskaia, nr Krasnodar, Southern Russia.
So far GRU has received only the visitors' 39-strong
shortlist which included Georgian-born Douglas
Kavtelashvili, the man who guided Aia of Kutaissi to three
Soviet titles in late 1980s and coached Lelos during
1994-95 but now acts as adviser to Novokuznetsk club and
Russian Union.
The game will be adjudicated by a Italian trio: Nereo
DORDOLO acting as ref whilst Alessandro MILAN and Alberto
BRUZONNE will run touch-lines.
The game falls at local holiday, the Mothering Day. To
attract as many women and even the entire families to the
match GRU wisely decided to charge an entry fee, 3 Lari
(1US$ = 2.2 Lari) only adult males and allow the rest
gratis.
The press-call is scheduled for Fri, 1 March, at 2 pm, at
GRU Office.
* LELOS of Georgia for Russia
(tabulated under Club Division AGE; CAPS - SCORING
French divisional hierarchy: T16 > D2 > F1 > F2 )
15 Bessik KHAMASHURIDZE Toulon D2 25 20 - 4T
14 Badri KHEKHELASHVILI Angouleme F1 24 15 - 5T
11 Makho URJUKASHVILI Mazamet F1 22 19 - 5T,12c,16p
22 Guja IOVADZE Agde F2 28 10 - 3T
13 Tedo ZIBZIBADZE Mazamet F1 22 13 - 3T
12 Vassil KATSADZE Grenoble D2 26 19 - 3T
10 Paliko JIMSHELADZE Grenoble D2 27 28 - 6T,36c,12p
21 Kakha ALANIA Locomotivi GEO 29 17
9 Shota MODEBADZE Nimes F1 28 20 - 3T, 4c,13p
20 Irakli ABUSSERIDZE Locomotivi GEO 25 12 - 3T
1 Mevlud MTIULISHVILI Agen T16 32 20
2 Akvsenti GUIORGADZE Toulon D2 26 21 - 7T
3 *Levan TSABADZE Castres T16 29 28 - 9T
16 Goderdzi SHVELIDZE Beziers T16 24 15 - 3T
17 Tato RATIANIDZE Beziers T16 22 7
4 Vano NADIRADZE Bourg@Bresse F1 30 23 - 3T
5 Victor DIDEBULIDZE Figeac F2 32 17 - 4T
18 Sergo GUJARAIDZE Le Creusot F1 .. NC
6 David BOLGHASHVILI Mazamet F1 23 13 - 2T
7 Guia LABADZE Toulon D2 29 25 - 5T
8 Ilia ZEDGUINIDZE Toulon D2 25 13 - 6T
19 Zurab MTCHEDLISHVILI Albi F1 31 23 - 2T
Management (all of FRANCE; age indicated):
Claude SAUREL coach 54
Thierry ROUDIL fitness 51
Jean-Louis SALOMON doc 45
** Georgia and Russia have met four times since 1993 with
Lelos leading the series by 3-1.
93/05/25 Sopot (Pol;RWC) RUSSIA 15 Georgia 9
96/10/20 Tbilissi (FIRA) GEORGIA 29 (3T) Russia 20 (T)
98/05/20 Tbilissi (RWC) GEORGIA 12 Russia 6
01/03/04 Krasnodar (ENC) Russia 23 (3T) GEORGIA 25 (3T)
Two clashes were try-less. In 1998 Georgia has tackled
hearts out for almost ten minutes maidway the second half
on a soggy pitch and advanced to the next qualifying round
of RWC'99.
Last year it was off-field shenanigans that bacame the main
talking point. Due to red-tape, GEO were able to assemble
the full, 22-strong squad just on match morning, then they
have a captain's run in hotel lobby, got to the stadium
just prior to the kick-off, changed into rugby gear at
nearby ballet-studio and still managed to play some decent
rugby and win.
Neverthelss, to the rugby-loving public here, in Georgia,
the first win in 1996 is still the sweetest. After the
break-up of the USSR there were too many sceptics who
doubted that the Game will survive here, and to their
dismay, the Lelos played great football, ran riot in the
final quarter and emerged victorious.
END )))