'It was the first time I had seen guys doing the plank with a 130kg teammate sat on their back!' - Rowntree warns England about huge Georgia pack
Graham Rowntree, who was Georgia’s forwards coach at last year’s World Cup, has warned England to ignore Georgia’s recent loss to Scotland and be prepared to face a torrid battle against “huge men” at Twickenham on Saturday. Georgia were beaten 48-7 by Scotland last month and now face an Autumn Nations Cup group containing England, Wales and Ireland which should be a chance to put forward their case for inclusion in the Six Nations.
Rowntree, now the Munster forwards coach, believes the extra training camps since the Scotland match will ensure the Georgians are able to prove why they are revered as some of the strongest scrummagers in world rugby.
There are a staggering 34 front row forwards from Georgia operating in the top two leagues in France – Top 14 and Pro D2 – with 15 contracted to the best teams in French rugby and another 19 playing one level down.
Rowntree, the former Leicester, England and Lions prop, was part of the England management group and an assistant coach on the 2009, 2013 and 2017 Lions Tours but says working with Georgia was a real eye opener.
He packed down against 16 different rugby nations in a playing career that brought him 54 England caps and three Lions test appearances, and told RugbyPass: “I have worked with some great packs and they are right up there. There is a rightful perception that they love a scrum and they are huge men. They are naturally strong and I remember a training camp at Montpellier where the gym ran out of weights for them.
“It was also the first time I had seen guys doing the plank in the gym with a 130kg team mate sat on their back! Their strength is ridiculous and they can all wrestle which means everyone from a 130kg prop to the 70kg kit man can all take you down very easily.
“They are quick learners and also know how to get themselves out of tricky situations with their strength. When I travelled around France meeting our players with Milton Haig, the head coach, there were so many Georgians in academies in the top two leagues and the guys are like monsters. The French clubs have cupboards full of props from Georgia.
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“England are one of the best scrums and they are finding young guys which is really encouraging. In the set piece, Georgia will at times, make it difficult for England and there will be moments when they have a go at England because they are a very proud and passionate nation.”
Unfortunately for Georgia, some key forwards are injured and the squad is in transition after post-World Cup retirements while experienced lock Kote Mikautadze, who recently signed a 3-month contract with Bayonne, will not be added to the squad until after the England game.
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Georgia won all four of their Six Nations B games earlier this year against Romania, Spain, Belgium and Portugal having lost to Wales (43-14), Australia (27-8), Fiji (45-10) at the 2019 World Cup with one win over Uruguay (33-7).
Eddie Jones, the England head coach, is even considering playing nine forwards on Saturday at Twickenham to help negate a Georgian pack that initiated a brawl when the two countries trained against each other in Oxford last year.
Rowntree added: “Georgia may have to defend multiple phases against England and upwards of 30 rucks and they won’t know how much they can pull the opposition into a set piece game. It is tough pool but Georgia will be better than they showed against Scotland and England will feel their power at moments during the game.”
Comments on RugbyPass
As long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
4 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
119 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
5 Go to commentsAndy Goode pushing his own agenda with very dubious considerations on refereeing performances. Luke Pearce speaking a bit of French doesn’t make him a good and adequate referee for the Champions Cup final; his latest refereeing performance in particular was not so great.
4 Go to commentsJordie knows that he has to earn the right to put on the jersey, whatever that jersey might be.
5 Go to commentsThe best outside centre in the world at one point. He will be greatly missed.
3 Go to commentsYip his great for the big moments when needed as a safa really enjoy watching him
4 Go to commentsOne that will start to come up from now on is penalties for back pushes during kick chase scrambles. Very difficult to detect. In Croke Park if you replay the Hendy NH try, you will see Furbank push Porter in the back, who collides with Larmour knocking the ball across into Hendy’s path to dot down. A more significant example was in the RWC QTR final where Arendse pushes Fickou into two other French players for the ball to spill into Arendse’s path for him to gather and run in to score SAs first try. Not cheating if you are not caught and very difficult to spot but with kicking becoming so critical I feel its an area that will referreeed/TMO-ed more.
4 Go to commentsWhat a pathetic little twit Andy Goode is, as if we care what he thinks…..😂
119 Go to commentsFoxy has been a wonderful player for the Scarlets and Wales.
3 Go to commentsNika the Georgian is the best referee in the world at the moment. Luckily we will be spared the shite SH refs and Barnes will hopefully remain retired given how shite and embarrassing he was at the RWC.
4 Go to commentsThis is the most exciting game of the summer imo, as we really won’t know in advance how both teams are going to play. - Will Robertson just reproduce his Crusaders tactics from last year, or will there be a conscious effort to borrow from the Hurricanes and Blues, and from the aspects of the ABs world cup strategy that worked well? - England under Borthwick have put in some good performances playing attacking rugby, and some good performances playing kick-oriented defensive rugby. Will Borthwick try to merge them together into a single all-court game, or will he continue switching between different approaches depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition?
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
1 Go to commentsI’m predicting an aggregate points difference of no more than +/-10pts across both matches this series.
9 Go to commentsFinals are always tense affairs for the players so I do not expect this to be a spectacle of running rugby unfortunately.
4 Go to commentsBulls***': Ex-England international calls out Eben Etzebeth… Not to his face but from very far away… after he’d left. Checked to make sure he wasn’t in the building.
119 Go to commentsHopefully this will mean a new Auckland league team to support in the west. Big Warriors fan but it’s very, very stale on that front and I’d like the option of another team if it was to watch league again. League needs to step up BIG time if its to get anywhere, another AK team and something from the capitol or south is a must for the game.
4 Go to commentsGood, deep interview, nice job Frankie!
1 Go to commentsNRL players don’t have anywhere near the number of Tests. Some people would be happy having Rest Homes full if 40 yo ex-players walking, or hobbling more like it, into walls. It’s just a game!
4 Go to comments