Focused Georgia look to ruin Samoa’s party

By Mathias Huckert 11 June 2016, 12:00AM

There are only hours to count until the big match.

During this stage, both teams, the Manu Samoa as well as the Georgian National Rugby Team are preparing themselves. 

While the whole country is getting ready to watch the Manu tackle the team from Eastern Europe, the Georgians completed their final training at Apia’s Park Stadium yesterday. 

The Weekend Observer had the opportunity to speak to the team’s captain Shalva Sutiashvili and his deputy Davit Kacharava about these final moments before the match.

“We’re ready for the game now,” said Sutiashvili, who is currently playing as a flanker for RC Massy in France. 

“There were some small things that had to be changed, but we’re looking forward to the match”.

One thing that bothered the team during these last preparations was the Samoan climate, which presented the men from Georgia with a challenge.

 “Yesterday, it was simply too hot and we have to be careful to stay out of the sun a lot.”

The team’s captain was aware that this difficulty might represent a benefit for their opponent.

“Playing against Samoa is always hard, especially now that they present themselves with such a squad full of young, ambitious players and playing in the Samoan sun might be even harder. 

“But as it is always the case, we will do our best to represent our nation and will try to make our country proud.”

No less prepared for the match against the Manu seemed the Georgian team’s vice captain Davit Kacharava, who can already look back at a long career in his country’s national team, as he entered the field for Georgia for the first time in 2004. 

The centre, who is currently under contract for the Russian rugby club Yenisey-STM, stated: “Of course it will be different for us because in Georgia, we have a different climate and we especially have to cope with the humidity hear, but we’re more than focused for this match”.

According to Kacharava, it was also the difference concerning the time zones that the team had to get used to. “We arrived here on Saturday, so the time change was something we had to get familiar with, because there’s a difference of 9 hours he had to compensate when landing here. But for the match, we will certainly have overcome these little difficulties”.

As for the last moments right before entering the field of Apia’s Park Stadium tomorrow, Davit Kacharava could not imagine any typical procedures: “Every match is different in rugby. The main task for us is to be focused during that time and I can assure that at this stage, the whole team is focused and we will try to win the match.

By Mathias Huckert 11 June 2016, 12:00AM

Trending Stories

Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>