Cultural contrasts are all part of the World Cup experience but Exeter’s Sandy Park surpassed itself on Wednesday night. Prince Harry, Miss Namibia, men with big furry white Maltesers on their heads, Chiefs fans doing the Tomahawk Chop, a Kiwi-born coach promoting Georgian wine … short of a dancing Diego Maradona – already sighted in Leicester last weekend – a more surreal mix is hard to imagine.
Above all, though, this was a historic evening for Georgian rugby, with a dramatic 17-16 win over Namibia effectively securing the Lelos automatic World Cup qualification for the first time in 2019. Their ebullient head coach, Milton Haig, spoke of his team having scaled the equivalent of Everest, while his elated squad headed straight for Exeter’s Timepiece nightclub.
“I think we’ll start with a few beers to warm up, and then afterwards we’ll see,” announced their seasoned lock forward Levan Datunashvili. “We’re in England so we have to try a little whisky as well.”
Haig had an equally straight-talking message for those charged with rugby union’s growth beyond its tier one strongholds. Back home in New Zealand he was once an advertising executive and knows an exciting new market when he sees one. He points to the shrinking gap between the tiers – the average pool margin is currently 22 points compared with 38 four years ago – and wants a big home union to visit Tbilisi within the next four years. “There are lots of good reasons why a tier one nation should come to Georgia. Number one, they would help grow the game globally. They’d also be hosted like never before and they’d certainly enjoy the food, the wine and the hospitality. We’d encourage any tier nation to talk to us because we’d love to have them.”
The worldly-wise Haig knows the phone lines to Tbilisi will not start buzzing until the money is right. But there are tipping points in all walks of life and one may have been reached in Exeter. As the Georgians openly admitted they did not play particularly well, guilty of trying too hard and getting carried away by the significance of victory. But their scrummaging is outstanding, their desire to better themselves tangible and crowds of 60,000 have been known to attend big games in Tbilisi. If the Six Nations committee voted to introduce promotion or relegation – or at the very least a play-off which involved the next Six Nations’ wooden-spoonists travelling to Tbilisi – they will never buy another drink in the Caucasus again.
For that to happen three things are necessary: backing from within their own country, a conveyor belt of youthful talent and more games against the top sides. The first two are already in place. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the wealthy former prime minister of Georgia who has a passion for rugby as well as collecting Picassos, flamingos and zebras, has funded a state-of-the-art training centre and their under-18 and under-20 sides have been enjoying encouraging results. It is the third aspect that is now pressing. “We want to look at different ways of trying to get as much competition as possible at a higher level,” says Haig. “That means playing against tier one nations as often as we can. If we don’t take this opportunity with both hands we’ll be mugs.”
The biggest hurdle, as ever, is the old-school voting system preserving the hegemony of the established few. There is a growing perception, despite firm denials from World Rugby, that lower-ranked nations are copping the rough end of too many disciplinary, playing schedule and budgetary disadvantages. If protectionist attitudes were to soften on the back of rugby sevens’ inclusion in next year’s Olympics, however, the game’s global horizons could be transformed.
Dead already is the lazy myth that tier two countries – and surely now is the time to jettison that condescending distinction – can never be sufficiently competitive. Just look at Japan, who have beaten South Africa and attracted television audiences of 25 million back home. Not long ago both Japan and Namibia were conceding over 140 points in World Cup pool games. Now even the Namibians boast a top-class back-row and one of the tournament’s most lethal goal-kickers. To see two supreme modern warriors, Jacques Burger and Georgia’s inspirational Mamuka Gorgodze, briefly on the same field together was worth the admission price alone.
Good luck telling those two that their nations should continue tugging their forelocks respectfully. A petition launched to try to push for Georgia’s admission to an expanded Seven Nations has already attracted thousands of supporters. Even a group of Dutch fans has been spotted in Milton Keynes. Despite the congested calendar, is there a good enough reason for the big boys not to venture to Tbilisi, Suva or Apia? “You’d have to ask their administrators but we don’t think there is,” shrugs Haig. Rugby’s so-called minnows are increasingly militant.
Rugby World Cup 2015 best XV from tier two nations
A Goromaru (Japan); DTH Van der Merwe (Canada), C Hearn (Canada), M Sharikadze (Georgia), N Nadolo (Fiji); T Kotze (Namibia), F Tanaka (Japan); M Nariashvili (Georgia), S Horie (Japan), C Ma’afu (Fiji), J Cudmore (Canada), L Nakarawa (Fiji), M Leitch (Japan), J Burger (Namibia), M Gorgodze (Georgia).
Replacements R Barkwill (Canada), M Lazar (Romania), D Zirakashvili (Georgia), S Manoa (United States), R Bothma (Namibia), A Ormaechea (Uruguay), B Volavola (Fiji), T Veainu (Tonga).
Tier one v tier two margins of victory in World Cup pool games
Year average margin
2003 45
2007 39
2011 38
2015 22
