Watching his teammate Luka Japaridze push a giant weighted sled weighing 250kg across the gym floor, Beka Saghinadze impulsively decides to jump on top to add some extra pounds. The goal is to make the physical challenge of his colleague even more difficult.
Saghinadze’s new position and some extra metal plates push the new weight of the sled past the gigantic 400 kg mark. That works out to about six average people.
As he urges Japaridze to speed up his legs and push even harder while bizarrely wielding a long, black bat, a crazy look appears on Saghinadze’s face.
Welcome to the crazy, unique world of Georgian rugby, where beards and tattoos are commonplace and patriotic fervor and bulging biceps are an unquestioned requirement.
“My best sled force is 450 kg,” says the Japaridze of Montpellier in broken English, sweat streaming from his brow. “For bench press, that’s three reps of 170 kg.”
Georgia beat Italy and Wales in 2022 and hoped to cause more shocks at the World Cup
The Georgians are so big that even the bus driver notices as he transports them to training
Japaridze isn’t even top of the class. That record goes to another forward in the front row, Nika Abuladze from Exeter.
“Nika is our strongest by a fair margin,” said Ben Pollard, Georgia’s strength and conditioning coach, who is on loan from World Rugby and previously worked under Eddie Jones at England.
‘He can squat 260 kg and 180 kg on the bench. He’s a bit of a freak, a monster. He has arms as big as your legs. Physically we are in a good place for the World Cup.
“The players set personal bests in the gym.”
This is a big World Cup for Georgia. Prior to the tournament, Mail Sport was given behind-the-scenes access to the Lelos camp on the Ile de Re, just off the coast of La Rochelle, for a day.
Unlike most ringside countries, Georgia has an open door policy. They are hospitable. Nothing is off limits. They want to tell their story. Georgia is an ambitious rugby country, desperate to be at the top of the game. France 2023 is their chance to show that this is exactly where they need to be.
Georgia is going to the Six Nations. You won’t be able to stop it,” said England’s 2003 World Cup winner Joe Worsley, who is now in charge of the Eastern European side’s defence. “They committed to an investment for 20 years to get there.
“Rugby is growing in Georgia and it’s only getting better. They have to find a formula where it is possible for them to play in the Six Nations.’
If hospitality was the only requirement, Georgia would have been welcomed long ago. The Levan Maisashvili players welcomed Mail Sport with open arms.
The dance music started at 7:30 am when Captain Merab Sharikadze loaded up a giant plate of scrambled eggs. Georgia’s players make it a point to greet all of their teammates when they come down each morning. Occasionally a hand kiss is given.
Front-row forwards Japaridze and Abuladze are among the larger units stripping down to their pants in the squad room as they prepare for the day. There is a sigh of relief when they are told that they are staying within the parameters set by the fitness team. Others, especially the backs, celebrate the gain of a few pounds here or there by pumping the air.
The Georgians are so big that even the bus driver notices. Bobby Thomson is the man responsible for transporting Maisashvili’s colossal team to training.
“If I have 15 average people on my bus, we’ll have about a ton of weight,” says Thomson.
Beka Saghinadze makes Luka Japaridze’s life harder by sitting on the 250kg sled he pushes
“These guys are definitely above average. You can tell the difference when there’s a rugby team on your bus, and you certainly can with these guys! You feel it in the corners.’
After breakfast and before training there is a team meeting. Worsley and offensive coach Cory Brown deliver their messages in English, with a selection of Georgia’s players translating as they speak.
Interpretation is not necessary on certain points. “You should fucking hit him,” Brown says, pointing to the screen.
The Georgian bid for the summit is financed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. Rugby is the country’s most popular sport and its popularity stems from the historic folk game Lelo.
It is where the nickname for the Georgia rugby team comes from. Unlike some of their second countries, the Lelos are not short of support. State-of-the-art fitness equipment monitors the rate at which Georgians lift their weight. A drone flies overhead while the players train.
Maisashvili has a 21-man backroom team, made up mostly of Georgians but complemented by the likes of Worsley and Paul Tito and World Rugby support from Pollard and Calvin Morris. Pollard and Morris are employed by the game’s governing body, but work with developing countries to help them bridge the gap with rugby’s traditional heavyweights.
That gap will certainly be closed.
Georgia beat Italy and Wales in 2022 and will hope for more shocking results in France. On Saturday they open their World Cup against Jones’ Australia in Paris.
“We can play good rugby in Georgia. We can beat big teams,” says Maisashvili. “We have two nice victories, but we still have problems. Look at the structure World Rugby wants to put in place from 2026. We need to show people that we deserve our chance to play against the best teams every time.
“Of course I understand the Six Nations’ position. They also have a commercial project. But will they call it a good commercial project if we keep beating their teams?’
Herein lies the crux of the matter. Georgia is not involved in the planned implementation of a country championship from 2026 and its progress will undoubtedly be limited. Their already limited opportunities to play against the best in the world will soon become even smaller. Maisashvili’s righteous demands have fallen on deaf ears.
Players are put to the test at Georgia’s training base on Ile de Re, near La Rochelle
Georgia will not go away. Joining the Six Nations under-20 level is seen as a possible first step and in June their junior side beat England with a seismic result in Tbilisi.
Georgia’s premier domestic team, Black Lion – which forms the backbone of their national XV – will play in the European Challenge Cup for the first time this season.
The country’s rugby is upwardly mobile.
“We’re a small country, but we have a really tasty kitchen,” says Georgia star and the country’s record scorer Aka Tabutsadze, eating a plate of chicken, broccoli and beetroot to fuel his afternoon weight training. Georgia players eat about 4,000 calories a day during a game week. That figure is closer to 5,000 for the likes of Japaridze and Abuladze.
Mail Sport shared lunch with the Georgia players, with Tabutsadze making a noticeable effort to sit next to the journalist infiltrating the camp when it would have been all too easy for him to go the other way.
“We’re fighting for our country when we put on the jersey,” says Tabutsadze, refilling Mail Sport’s water. “It’s like we have a superhero power!”
With star backs Davit Niniashvili and Tabutsadze, Georgia has both speed and power. But when you join the Lelos in the gym, you’re witnessing sheer raw power at its most impressive.
“They like to lift heavy,” says strength and conditioning coach Morris of Georgia. “The players watch videos about weightlifting and bodybuilding on the bus. It’s a big cultural thing in Georgia.”
Brushing his perfect mustache, which sits under a nose that has clearly been broken several times, striker Mikheil Gachechiladze looks every bit like a Georgian rugby player.
“Being part of the national team means everything to us,” says Maisashvili, who was given a one percent survival rate after contracting Covid and slipping into a coma in 2021.
Maisashvili rose from the dead in South Africa. He is a man accustomed to miracles. Now Maisashvili is planning another one in France.
Portugal, Fiji and Wales are the other opponents for Georgia in Group C.
Everyone is ready to sacrifice themselves. We are a small country. Our history is full of many different battles,” says Maisashvili. “It is in our DNA to fight: 20 percent of our country is still occupied by Russia. Playing against big teams is an opportunity to bring the greatest happiness to our country and its supporters. Every player feels that responsibility.
“This World Cup is an opportunity for me to be grateful. God has given me a second chance in life.
‘I had one when I was born and a second when I was ill. I thank God He decided that I should live.’
England World Cup winner Joe Worsley is in charge of the defense of the Eastern European squad
Georgia wants to prove a point in 2023, but three-quarters of their squad for France should make it to Australia in 2027. Niniashvili and others should still be around in 2031. Don’t expect Georgia to disappear. They will start this World Cup in eleventh place on the planet, above Italy and Japan.
“Georgian culture has been around for thousands of years, despite many, many invasions, many empires and people trying to take over,” says Worsley.
‘They have always preserved the language and their culture by retreating to the mountains or fighting back. They are proud of their history; it really drags them together.
“They have a culture of fighting together to fend off people who try to invade their country, which makes them a perfect rugby nation.”