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Lomu-like six foot five Georgia wing to debut against England

By PA
Georgian players line up for the anthems /Getty

Georgia have given their promising former under-20 wing Sandro Svanidze his debut in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Cup match against England.

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The elevation of Svanidze, 22 (6’5, 100kg) to the starting XV is one of eight changes made to the team thumped 48-7 by Scotland on October 23.

In total, there are 474 caps in the starting XV with centre Merab Sharikadze leading the team.

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Eddie Jones talks ahead of Georgia showdown:

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Eddie Jones talks ahead of Georgia showdown:

Directing operations will be a new-look half-back pairing of Gela Aprasidze and Tedo Abzhandadze.

An experienced pack with a total of 254 caps between them will feature against England. There four changes in total in the pack. Leicester Tigers’ hooker Shalva Mamukashvili is promoted from the bench, while Beka Gigashvili returns at tighthead from an injury layoff.

Lasha Jaiani comes in in the engine while Giorgi ‘Koki’ Tkhilaishvili is promoted from the bench into the back row.

GEORGIA TEAM
Backs: 15. Lasha Khmaladze (83 caps, 53 points), 14. Akaki Tabutsadze (3 caps, 30 points), 13. Giorgi Kveseladze (25 caps, 20 points), 12. Merab Sharikadze (67 caps, 60 points, captain), 11. Sandro Svanidze (*), 10. Tedo Abzhandadze (16 caps, 53 points), 9. Gela Aprasidze (26 caps, 24 points);

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Forwards: 1. Mikheil Nariashvili (62 caps, 10 points), 2. Shalva Mamukashvili (75 caps, 50 points), 3. Beka Gigashvili (14 caps, 5 points), 4. Lasha Jaiani (2 caps), 5. Grigor Kerdikoshvili (2 caps), 6. Beka Saginadze (13 caps, 5 points), 7. Giorgi Tkhilaishvili (58 caps, 60 points), 8. Beka Gorgadze (28 caps, 40 points);

Substitutes: 16. Jaba Bregvadze (59 caps, 15 points), 17. Guram Gogichashvili (15 caps, 5 points), 18. Lexo Kaulashvili (1 caps), 19. Otar Giorgadze (26 caps, 25 points), 20. Tornike Jalagonia (1 caps); 21. Vasil Lobzhanidze (52 caps, 40 points), 22. Deme Tapladze (3 caps, 5 points), 23. Sandro Todua (86 caps, 65 points)

ENGLAND TEAM:
E Daly (Saracens); J Joseph (Bath Rugby), O Lawrence (Worcester Warriors), H Slade (Exeter Chiefs), J May (Gloucester Rugby); O Farrell (Saracens, capt), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers); E Genge (Leicester Tigers), J George (Saracens), W Stuart (Bath Rugby), C Ewels (Bath Rugby), J Launchbury (Wasps), M Itoje (Saracens), J Willis (Wasps), B Vunipola (Saracens).

Replacements: T Dunn, (Bath Rugby), M Vunipola (Saracens), K Sinckler (Bristol Bears), B Earl (Bristol Bears), T Curry (Sale Sharks), D Robson (Wasps), M Malins (Bristol Bears), J Marchant (Harlequins).

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H
Hellhound 38 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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