By Matt Hardy
Stepping out of the concourse and into the bowl of the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium in Tbilisi, Georgia felt like a big moment. The fatigue from travelling more than 2,000 miles for 80 minutes of rugby, equating to over seven hours on two overnight flights, instantly vanished. There, on the pitch, were historic English club Gloucester Rugby and brand new franchise team Black Lion.
The Georgian outfit are property of the country’s rugby governing body and have been given a slot in this season’s European Challenge Cup, where the winners qualify for the world-leading Investec Champions Cup.
Georgia are no strangers to rugby and have beaten Wales and Italy at international level in recent years, so it’s long overdue that they have been handed an opportunity – through the club game and Black Lion – to stake their claim for a European spot.
Champions Cup dreamers
They lost to Gloucester on that cold, wet December afternoon in a capital city packed with vibrancy and outstanding food – the boot of George Barton the difference as Gloucester snuck a 10-15 win. But in their first ever European match they held firm and earned a losing bonus point.
For many, that’s as good as was expected for Black Lion. But a week later they went to another iconic team of European rugby’s days of old, Llanelli’s Scarlets, and toppled the West Walians 7-23.
In just their second European game they claimed a win, and have more points than the likes of United Rugby Championship duo Scarlets and Zebre, the Premiership’s Newcastle Falcons and French Top14 trio Perpignan, Oyonnax and Pau.
Remarkably, they’re also on track to qualify for the knockout stages.
It proves that the inclusion of teams from the likes of Georgia, and past plans that have seen Russian and Romanian sides included, don’t need to simply be token gestures; they can be meaningful invitations that grow the game.
The Investec Champions Cup and Challenge Cup can do what the Six Nations and the international game have been unable to do and that’s embrace, expand and include.
Winning mentality?
Club rugby is the local catalyst that gets the newer generations of fans interested, and the near 7,000 in Tbilisi in the pouring rain beat a number of other more established clubs for attendance in the opening two weeks.
This Saturday, Black Lion travel to former French Top14 winners Castres, a team who pride themselves on their home form, before hosting European and domestic giants Clermont of France.
And that’s where the next challenge for Black Lion will come. They’ve got their first point on the board and they’ve registered their first win, so now it is about consolidation and qualification – which would really throw the cat amongst the pigeons.
Rugby has given an opportunity to an outsider, something it has refrained from doing with true vigour for a long time, and it’s seen a return on the faith placed in Black Lion.
Everyone should hope for rugby success in the streets of Tbilisi, because sustained inclusion and opportunity could lead to the ultimate reward of a spot in the iconic Champions Cup.
