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Georgia hopes unity troubles Wales at RWC

Georgia will be banking on a unity forged in France to trouble Wales when they meet in the Rugby World Cup in Toyota on Monday.

Teamwork won’t be lacking and just as well considering Georgia faces the Six Nations Grand Slam champion.

Eight Georgians ply their trade in south-western France for Brive in the Top 14 league, including four of the World Cup squad here in Japan.

Halfback Vasil Lobzhanidze and flanker Otari Giorgadze are among them.

“It is a small city, and all the Georgian players live just a few minutes from each other,” Giorgadze said.

They forge close links around their favourite cuisine – and it’s not French.

“I like to make the Ukrainian soup, Borsch. That is my specialty, I make it well, as well as a good steak,” Giorgadze said.

“I make it for all the Georgian boys in Brive.”

Lobzhanidze gets to do the baking, but sometimes has to improvise with the ingredients.

“I cook khachapuri for them, which is like Georgian pizza,” Lobzhanidze said.

“In Georgia we make the bread ourselves, but in France I just buy some pizza bread and add in the mozzarella, feta.”

Lobzhanidze seems to revel in responsibility.

The 22-year-old became the youngest player at a Rugby World Cup when he faced Tonga at 18 years, 340 days in 2015.

Now he has 45 Test caps, and others are looking to him for leadership.

“I try to use my experience to act like a senior player,” he said.

Giorgadze’s all-action style has seen him draw comparisons with Georgia’s greatest player, forward Mamuka Gorgodze, also the team’s leading try scorer with 26.

“It’s very difficult to be compared to Mamuka, because he is such a great player and a true hero in Georgia,” Giorgadze said.

“We will see in the future whether I can be.”

Gorgodze, 35, came out of international retirement to play at his fourth World Cup after injuries hit the side in the warm-ups.

The former captain was picked on the openside flank for his first Test since March 2017 against Romania.

Georgia:

Soso Matiashvili, Miriani Modebadze, David Kacharava, Tamaz Mchedlidze, Giorgi Kveseladze, Tedo Abzhandadze, Vasil Lobzhanidze, Beka Gorgadze, Mamuka Gorgodze, Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, Konstantine Mikautadze, Giorgi Nemsadze, Beka Gigashvili, Shalva Mamukashvili, Mikheil Nariashvili (capt). Res: Jaba Bregvadze, Guram Gogichashvili, Levan Chilachava, Shalva Sutiashvili, Beka Saginadze, Otari Giorgadze, Gela Aprasidze, Lasha Khmaladze.

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