Lelos of Georgia went down fighting by just nine
points to Six Nations pets, Italy on the last
weekend of RWC'2003 warm-up tests
The game was played at Asti Racecourse, near Turin,
in perfect conditions and was shown delayed on a new,
free-to-air Georgian TV channel, IMEDI (hope) which
will carry the World Cup to the whole region as well
The Lelos who had started their RWC preps as late as
18th August, lost their influential captain and main
ball-carrier Ilo Zedguinidze midway thru the opening
quarter
By that time the Azurri had already scored from a
rolling maul. The hosts benefited from this ploy two
more times, the fact that surely would raise some
eyebrows back here, in Georgia
The Lelos pack outweighted their Latin counterparts
by 882 kgs to 831. Nevertheless, Georgians have
shunted the hosts just once and Jimsheladze duly
goaled the resulting PK to make the score ^22-26
Italy pinched five opposition throws. They led
possession stakes by almost 60/40 but Georgia stood
firm. Their defence allignment and tackling was
outstanding throughout
The Lelos were outdone by poor discipline. They
earned three yellow and one red cards (Khamashuridze
slapped Mirco Bergamasco whilst clearing at ruck in
the last movement of the match)
Jimsheladze kicked perfect five from five. On the
stroke of half-time he levelled the score ^13-all.
The Lelos try stemmed from failed Azurri backline
attack
Urjukashvili tackled the pass receiver, Khamashuridze
scooped the ball, ran, disposed with several would-be
challengers and threw the ball to the self-same Makho
who raced half of the field unhindered
The Azurri brought on Mauro Bergamasco after
half-time. Sergio Parisse and Aaron Persico made a
headway soon after resupmtion but the Italians were
penalized for crossing and not releasing
Then Urjukashvili dropped a goal from 40m after a
sustained pressure ^16-13. Italy though, responded
thru opportunist try
When the ref was explaining some finer points of the
tackle-ball law to the Lelos pack, Azurri's wily
captain Troncon who had moments earlier involved in
altercation with his vis-a-vis Abu, cheekly tapped
and raced thru bemused Caucasians ^16-20
Ramiro Pez kicked a straightforward PK after Guia
Labadze had cinically interfered with JM Queirolo at
the ruck and Italy for the first time got 7pt cushion
^19-26
Nevertheless, Georgia still was looking for the
ground- breaking victory and reduced the deficit to
four. Then Azurri had a prolonged huddle before 5m
line-out and mauled over the line thanx to
astonishingly absent Georgian resistance ^22-31
All in all, the Lelos could be satistied with their
current form. As for Italy, one would only wonder
what they have learned from the big boys during their
four year-long involvement with sacred Five Nations
teams
>>> Italy 31, Georgia 22
GEORGIA (clad in BLACK; * New Cap):
15 Bessik Khamashuridze `OFF 80+8, 14 Makho
Urjukashvili (21* David Kiknadze 80+3), 13 Tedo
Zibzibadze, 12 Iraki Guiorgadze, 11 Irakli
Machkhaneli (22* Gocha Khonelidze 56); 10 Paliko
Jimsheladze, 9 Irakli Abusseridze (20* Irakli
Modebadze 80+3) /
1* Avtandil Kopaliani (16 Goderdzi Shvelidze 51), 2
Akvsenti Guiorgadze, 3* Aleko Margvelashvili `SB 31
(17* David Dadunashvili 67); 4 Zurab Mtchedlishvili,
5 Victor Didebulidze V_CAPT (18 Vano Nadiradze 70 `SB
80+6); 6 George Chkhaidze, 7 Gregoire Yachvili, 8
Ilia Zedguinidze CAPT (19 Guia Labadze 13 `SB 73)
- T: Urjukashvili; C, 4P: Jimsheladze; DG:
Urjukashvili
ITALY: Canale, Mir Bergamasco, Stoica, Raineri,
Mazzucato; Pez (Peens 80+3), Troncon CAPT (Queirolo
61) / Lo Cicero, Ongaro (Festuccia 70), L
Castrogiovanni (Perugini 61); Dellape (Checchinato
61), Bortolami; De Rossi (Mau Bergamasco 41),
Persico, Parisse - 4T: Castrogiovanni, Lo Cicero, Troncon,
Checchinato; C, 3P: Pez
REF: Ian Ramage (SCO). Asti (nr Turin), Stadio
Comunale
Scoring sequence (GEO first):
0-5(3') 3-5(7) 3-8(21) 10-8(28) 10-13(34) 13-13(40+2
HT) / 16-13(46 DG) 16-20(54) 19-20(60) 19-23(69)
19-26(74) 22-26(78) 22-31(80+2) FT(80+8)