Clinical Georgia demolish Portugal en route to European Championship
Georgia have claimed the 2023 Rugby Europe Championship with an impressive 38-11 win over Portugal in Badajoz, Spain.
Georgia entered the match as favourites courtesy of their 11 titles from the past 12 competitions but fellow World Cup qualifiers Portugal certainly hadn’t been written off heading into the match.
Indeed, it was Portugal who started the stronger side, needing just six minutes to get their first try of the match, with captain Tomas Appleton profiting from a quick tap and crashing over in the wider channels. While the try wasn’t converted, Portugal still had the early lead.
Georgia dominated territory for the next 10 minutes, with Portugal having to defend their line for phase after phase and the penalties began to pile up. Eventually, No 14 Akaki Tabutsadze was able to touch down in the corner off a wide pass from Lyon’s Davit Niniashvili. Tedo Abzhandadze added the points off the tee to give Georgia a two-point lead.
It wasn’t long before Georgia were in again – with Tabutsadze again grabbing the spoils. An expertly placed kick deep inside Portugal’s 22 saw the defensive cover scragged over the sideline, and a nicely worked move from the ensuing lineout saw Georgia take their lead to 12-5.
?? v ?? | The Champions strike back through that man Akaki Tabutsadze who gets his second of the evening! #REC23 pic.twitter.com/4Hu7XnyFWP
— Rugby Europe (@rugby_europe) March 19, 2023
Portugal were able to reclaim possession from the kick-off, with a penalty eventually coming their way for a dangerous tackle. Captain Merab Sharikadze was sent to the bin and Simao Bento made no mistake with the kick. Seconds later, Georgia infringed again and Bento brought the Portuguese to within a point of their more fancied opposition, with the scoreline remaining unchanged for the rest of the first half.
What looked like a Georgian try was snuffed out almost immediately after the break, with the referees ruling there had been a knock-on before the try was scored. That didn’t dampen the Georgian’s spirits, however, with hooker Shalva Mamukashvili crashing over from the next lineout.
With the final entering a crucial period, tempers flared – and, somewhat comically, both halfbacks were handed yellow cards for getting in each others’ faces.
In a major win for Portugal just minutes later, Os Lobos were able to hold their opposition up over the line, preventing what looked like another certain try. Back-to-back penalties helped Portugal march their way down the field, but they couldn’t capitalise on their field position, and it was Georgia who struck next off another driving maul through reserve tighthead Guram Gogichashvili. With the conversion from Abzhandadze, Georgia took a commanding 24-11 lead with 15 to play.
From that point on, the Lelos took control of the game.
A nice attack down the right-hand flank ended in a try to centre Demur Tapladze with Luka Matkava adding the extras. Replacement hooker Giorgi Chkoidze also got his name on the scoresheet from a driving maul, leading to the final score of 38-11.
In a smorgasbord of action, the Rugby Europe Championship’s earlier finals matches saw Spain take on Romania – also in Badajoz – the Netherlands tackle Germany and Poland face off with Belgium.
The inexperienced Spanish side, playing in front of a home crowd, raced out to a 10-0 lead after half an hour, only for Romania to grab a penalty and a try of their own to bring some respectability to the half-time score.
Momentum fell Romania’s way early in the second spell, with flanker Cristi Chirica somehow managing to rein in a skip pass from Spanish No 10 Gonzalo Vinuesa and then racing 60 metres to touch down for the first points of the half. Following two more tries to the Oaks, it looked like Los Leones were done and dusted but two charge-downs deep inside Romanian territory both resulted in scores to the home side – and the game was all locked up 25-all with just minutes left on the clock.
🇷🇴🤯 Cristi Chirica with the go go gadget arms to intercept and score a beauty for @RugbyRomania! #REC23 pic.twitter.com/2hBb44bAdL
— Rugby Europe (@rugby_europe) March 19, 2023
A Spanish infringement saw Gabriel Pop kick a penalty goal, giving his side the lead and forcing Spain to chance their arm from inside their own 22. The home side couldn’t rally to take the win, however, eventually conceding a penalty, and Romania took the points on offer to secure the 31-25 victory.
In the first ranking final – both of which were played in Amsterdam – the Netherlands raced out to a sizeable 28-0 lead over Germany at halftime, scoring one of the fastest tries in Test rugby in the process, with Dutch halfback Hugo Scholler touching down just 10 seconds after kick-off.
The Schwarze-Adler came back into the fight in the second spell, eventually managing 28 points of their own, but they couldn’t prevent the Netherlands from banking a few extra points, with the game finishing 50-28 in the home team’s favour and securing the Dutch 5th place -their highest-ever finish in the Rugby Europe Championship.
Belgium reversed their group-stages loss to Poland with a tight 18-17 win in the first match of the day.
Both sides scored tries in the opening 10 minutes but while Poland dominated the majority of the first half, they weren’t able to convert their favourable territory and possession into points. Wing Robert Wójtowicz made a great dart down the right-hand side of the pitch, weaving between multiple defenders, but had the ball dislodged as he dived over the line. Later in the game, Poland looked to have scored from close range but referee Cristian Serban ruled the ball had been held up.
Belgium struck with just 12 minutes to play through man-of-the-match Florian Remue and looked to have wrapped up the result, only for Poland to score following the sin-binning of Belgian flanker Toon Deceuninck. Ultimately, however, Poland left it too late to grab a victory, with the Black Devils claiming the win – and 7th place in the competition.
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
3 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments