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Georgia's Black Lion claim second Super Cup title with victory over Tel Aviv Heat
The Black Lion have defended their Super Cup crown with a 29-17 victory over the Tel Aviv Heat in Tbilisi over the weekend.
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The Black Lion claimed the inaugural Super Cup title in May, besting Portugal’s Lusitanos, and have now reinforced their claim as one of the top tier-two clubs sides in Europe with an impressive win in the Georgian capital.
Saturday’s final marked the third time this season that the Black Lion and the Tel Aviv Heat have faced off, with their first meeting in September ending in a 25-all draw and the Heat grabbing a six-point victory a month later in Petah Tikva.
As the top two qualifiers out of the Eastern Conference, both the Black Lion and the Heat progressed through to the competition’s semi-finals where they matched up with the top two sides from the west. The Black Lion recorded a comfortable 41-9 victory over Spain’s Castilla y Leon Iberians, the second-placed side from the Western Conference, while the Heat upset the Lusitanos 33-20 in Lisbon.
Following their two tightly-fought tussles earlier in the season, the Black Lion raced out of the blocks on Saturday to command a 22-3 lead going into the break off the back of tries to midfielder Demur Tapladze and winger Mirian Modebadze, as well as a penalty try from the opening minutes of the fixture.
No 10 Luka Matkava dotted down moments after the break, handing Tel Aviv a sizeable mountain to climb if they were to harbour any hopes of preventing the Black Lion from defending their title.
While the Israeli franchise buckled down to score two tries to round out the match, it wasn’t enough to cancel out the deficit and the Black Lion triumphed by 12 points and retained their crown.
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“I think we deserved it, first half we were winning by a big score, second half they played very well but still we won by 12 points and it’s always amazing to win a final,” said Black Lion captain Merab Sharikadze after the game. “I’m very proud of the boys and very proud of my country.”
Levan Maisashvili, head coach of both the Black Lion and the Georgian national team, also emphasised the importance of the strong start: “We started the game very well, with two early tries and also in the second half we dominated. After, the boys relaxed and it cost us points so well done to Tel Aviv to stay in the game and it was one of the interesting finals.”
The Super Cup is expected to grow to 10 teams next year – although the identity of any new franchises is very much up in the air.
Georgia, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Belgium, Israel and the Netherlands were all represented in the inaugural season, with Romania and an additional Georgia side based in Batumi added to the competition in place of the two Russian sides for 2022.
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Germany and Poland both feature in the Rugby Europe Championship – Europe’s second-tier competition behind the Six Nations – and are plausible nations for expansion, while the likes of Spain and Portugal could potentially each host a second franchise.
For the moment, however, the Black Lion will celebrate another successful season, with hopes that EPCR could potentially award the winners of the Super Cup with a spot in next year’s European Challenge Cup.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen 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.
30 Go to comments