Georgia and Portugal will face each other at Stadium de Toulouse on Saturday at 14:00. Both teams have lost their first matches in Pool C and are looking for their first wins of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
“We have a lot of things to analyse,” Georgia coach Levan Maisashvili said after their 35-15 defeat to Australia on the first weekend of Rugby World Cup 2023.
He wasn’t wrong. Georgia played noticeably better than the scoreline suggests but wasted several chances at Stade de France two weeks ago.
Maisashvili has made four changes in the pack, with Mikheil Nariashvili and Beka Gigashvili coming into the front row, Vladimer Chachanidze into the second row, and Beka Saginadze into the back row. Giorgi Kveseladze will earn his 50th cap, as well as Nodar Cheishvili if used off the bench.
Georgia assistant coach Joe Worsley said "I have been very impressed with them as a team. The distance they have come since 2007 is pretty incredible. When you look at that team that played in 2007 and the team they have now, we have got a real test tomorrow."
Saturday’s opponents Portugal made Wales work for their bonus-point win in Nice at the weekend. While they have every reason to be proud of their efforts, they’ll want to build on that with an even stronger performance here.
Diogo Hasse Ferreira replaces Anthony Alves in the front row while José Madeira comes into the second row in place of Martim Belo. In the back-line, Pedro Bettencourt replaces José Lima at outside-centre and Raffaele Storti replaces Vincent Pinto on the right wing.
Portugal's assistant coach said "We have to be really strong in the set-pieces and sometimes the way we play, kicking or not, depends on the other team. Sometimes we have space and opportunities to play the way we want to play, but other times, playing against strong teams, it’s not possible to do that. I think it’s going to be a great game, but I think it will be good for us."
Teams:
Georgia: 1 Mikheil Nariashvili, 2 Shalva Mamukashvili, 3 Beka Gigashvili, 4 Vladimer Chachanidze, 5 Konstantine Mikautadze, 6 Tornike Jalagonia, 7 Beka Saginadze, 8 Beka Gorgadze, 9 Gela Aprasidze, 10 Tedo Abzhandadze, 11 Alexander Todua, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 14 Akaki Tabutsadze, 15 Davit Niniashvili. Replacements: 16 Tengizi Zamtaradze, 17 Guram Gogichashvili, 18 Guram Papidze, 19 Nodar Cheishvili, 20 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 21 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 22 Luka Matkava, 23 Demur Tapladze.
Portugal: 1 Francisco Fernandes, 2 Mike Tadjer, 3 Diogo Hasse Ferreira, 4 José Madeira, 5 Steevy Cerqueira, 6 João Granate, 7 Nicolas Martins, 8 Rafael Simões, 9 Samuel Marques, 10 Jerónimo Portela, 11 Rodrigo Marta, 12 Tomás Appleton (c), 13 Pedro Bettencourt, 14 Raffaele Storti, 15 Nuno Sousa Guedes. Replacements: 16 David Costa, 17 Lionel Campergue, 18 Anthony Alves, 19 Martim Belo, 20 David Wallis, 21 Thibault de Freitas, 22 Pedro Lucas, 23 Manuel Cardoso Pinto.
