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Toulon and La Rochelle in a race to scoop Georgian mastermind

Davit Niniashvili of Georgia applauds the fans at full-time followingg the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between Wales and Georgia at Stade de la Beaujoire on October 07, 2023 in Nantes, France. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Davit Niniashvili will be a free agent after his contract with Lyon Olympique Universitaire comes to an early end, freeing up the 21-year-old to find a new home, which is sparking a bidding war between two of the most coveted Top 14 sides. RC Toulon and Stade Rochelais are the two rumoured destinations, but negotiations are far from over, and his future is still engulfed in doubt.

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The Georgian fullback arrived in France in 2021, collecting more than fifty caps for the Lyonnais side, scoring 23 tries and helping his club win an EPCR Challenge Cup back in 2022. As he arrived in France as an Academy player, he fell under the JIFF status, making it easy to change sides inside the French system.

He became a Lelo international back in 2021, debuting in the Men’s Rugby Europe Championship of that season, and quickly rose as the starting fullback. He has summed a total of 28 caps and 9 tries in the last three years and was vital to take down Italy and Wales in 2022. The utility back was one of the star players of the 2023 Rugby World Cup pool stages, ranking up as the unit with the most metres run and defenders beat.

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    URC Head of Match Officials Tappe Henning reveals some stunning red-card statistics

    Niniashvili’s contract is due to end on the 1st of Jule 2025, and there were talks of a possible new extension until 2026, but it seems the vibrant fullback is searching for a new challenge for his career. La Rochelle are searching for a new fullback, as Brice Dulin will complete his 35th anniversary next April, and the Georgian fits in the teams requirements. As for Toulon, they were the first showing interest in Niniashvili, and with Aymeric Luc leaving for Pau, there’s an open vacancy in the back three.

    Although he still has one year to go, Niniashvili can change sides in this Summer, pending if the new club is available to pay a compensation fee to LOU.

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    J
    JW 2 hours ago
    Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

    It is now 22 years since Michael Lewis published his groundbreaking treatise on winning against the odds

    I’ve never bothered looking at it, though I have seen a move with Clint as a scout/producer. I’ve always just figured it was basic stuff for the age of statistics, is that right?

    Following the Moneyball credo, the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available

    This is actually a great example of what I’m thinking of. This concept has abosolutely nothing to do with Moneyball, it is simple being able to realise how skillsets tie together and which ones are really revelant.


    It sounds to me now like “moneyball” was just a necessity, it was like scienctest needing to come up with some random experiment to make all the other world scholars believe that Earth was round. The American sporting scene is very unique, I can totally imagine one of it’s problems is rich old owners not wanting to move with the times and understand how the game has changed. Some sort of mesiah was needed to convert the faithful.


    While I’m at this point in the article I have to say, now the NRL is a sport were one would stand up and pay attention to the moneyball phenom. Like baseball, it’s a sport of hundreds of identical repetitions, and very easy to data point out.

    the tailor has to cut his cloth to the material available and look to get ahead of an unfair game in the areas it has always been strong: predictive intelligence and rugby ‘smarts’

    Actually while I’m still here, Opta Expected Points analysis is the one new tool I have found interesting in the age of data. Seen how the random plays out as either likely, or unlikely, in the data’s (and algorithms) has actually married very closely to how I saw a lot of contests pan out.


    Engaging return article Nick. I wonder, how much of money ball is about strategy as apposed to picks, those young fella’s got ahead originally because they were picking players that played their way right? Often all you here about is in regards to players, quick phase ruck ball, one out or straight up, would be were I’d imagine the best gains are going to be for a data driven leap using an AI model of how to structure your phases. Then moving to tactically for each opposition.

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