Georgia hoping to be very much on rivals' minds

World Rugby president Bernard Lapasset holds Georgia up as an example of the increasing competitivity of XVs while their coach Milton Haig's ambition is to win two pool games so they automatically qualify for the 2019 World Cup.

In a quite open looking Pool C -- world champions All Blacks apart -- there is even a chance the physically imposing and solid Georgians could grab the second spot and a place for the first time in the last eight.

To do that they will have to overcome the grizzled but ageing Argentinians and an unpredictable Tonga side, who themselves will be eyeing a first appearance in the quarter-finals -- Namibia should provide the role as pool cannon fodder.

Certainly there is no doubting that up front the Georgians will more than hold their own. Sixteen of their 17 scrummagers play in Europe including the outstanding backrow forward Mamuka Gorgodze, who plays for three-time European champions Toulon.

The backs will be another matter, 10 of the 14 still strutting around the rugby pitches of their homeland but even in that area under the canny eye of New Zealander Haig and former Ireland scrum-half Michael Bradley there has been significant improvement.
Indeed scrum-half Vasil Lobzhanidze is predicted to be one of the young stars of the tournament and could well create his own bit of history by becoming aged 18 the youngest player to appear at the quadrennial showpiece.

Haig, whose departure from the Bay of Plenty assistant coaching job in 1996 to take on a newspaper job allowed Joe Schmidt to gain a foothold on the coaching ladder, said the backs had been one area he had focused on since taking over the post in 2011.

"The better the results are the more young players will come through, and there are already some really promising ones emerging," he told AFP last November.

"However, the game when I arrived was rather one dimensional. It was very forward oriented, and I recognised straight away we needed more width in our game.

"That is what we focused on the last three years. It suits the forwards too as they like the ball in hand," added the 51-year-old, who moved his family to Georgia -- his wife is currently head of an international school, with all having made a point of learning Georgian.

Three narrow defeats in their warm-up games -- including Canada and Japan -- was not an ideal result in their preparations but victories over Samoa and the Japanese during Haig's reign has shown they are capable of beating seemingly more established teams.
Haig is phlegmatic about the three losses.

"It's perfect because it puts us under pressure," Haig told ESPN Rugby.

"That's what you want. You want to maximise your warm-up games as much as possible and try and imitate what is going to happen in the World Cup.

"Going up against Tonga first is going to be another level. The three games have been excellent preparation for us going into the next two weeks."

Haig is very much looking to the long-term hence why he has made a point of placing the accent on building the blocks for a long-term gain and results have been reaped in the Under-18 side beating Ireland and Italy and the Under-20 team taking the World Rugby Trophy laurels.

Haig, who says life in Georgia suits him and his family and that the wine is 'excellent', the food 'very good' with the only concernt the 'crazy drivers', says that aside from the blossoming talent the facilities he has to work with are second to none.

"We have a 27-room hotel, two pitches and a gym, provided by funding from a benefactor," said Haig, who coached the Maori XV and the New Zealand Under-21 side. "It is better than even anything you would find in New Zealand."  
Source: AFP