Giorgi Chkhaidze, the second liner of the Georgian national rugby union team, held the 60^th match in “The Lelos” against Belgium (17:13). He captained the team for the first time.

Chkhaidze was a temporary captain. On February 9 Irakli Machkhaneli will captain the team against Portugal on “Mikheil Meskhi”. He could not play in Brussels because of injury. The 31-year-old Machkhaneli will hold the 60^th match and will captain the team for the first time. In the previous matches Irakli scored 22 tries and brought 110 points to the team. He is a top scorer of “The Lelos”.

Giorgi Chkhaidze: - It is always tough to play against Portugal. They are aggressive, do their best and fight till the end. I do not want to talk about victory now. It depends on how we prepare. We must use our advantage and carry our instructions of the coach.

-         What can you say about the match against Belgium?

-         The match started with incident. As it seems, their coach told them to provoke us. They did it but were left with 14 players, like us. The main problem was that we were not well-prepared. The hosts were mobilized. They have an experienced coach and tried to destroy our match. Referee helped them. All our first matches of the year were held this way. Last year we lost to Spain. I think, we lost to Belgium and the hosts won.

-         You were captain in Brussels…

-         It is a tough mission to be a captain. Besides that, I did not expect it. Irakli Machkhaneli got injured and it was decided that I would captain the team. I think, I did my job well. I will not be captain against Portugal. Irakli Machkhaneli will be captain.

Zura Ksovreli