IRB Rugby World Cup
Georgia facing anxious wait on injured duo
Rob Bartlett
August 31, 2015
Stade Francais' Zurab Zhvania
Stade Francais' Zurab Zhvania© THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images

Georgia suffered a double World Cup injury scare when Zurab Zhvania and Giorgi Talakhadze had to be replaced during their warm-up clash with Newcastle, but head coach Milton Haig hopes both will recover ahead of their Pool C opener against Tonga.

The Lelos were beaten 27-7 by Falcons at Kingston Park on Friday with both Stade Francais prop Zhvania and Talakhadze having to leave the field early. Haig, who will officially name his final 31-man squad on Monday, is waiting on scan results for both players.

"We've got a guy [Zhvania] that's dislocated his elbow and a young guy [Talakhadze], the centre who played in the second half, looks as though he's torn a groin," Haig told ESPN. "We'll get some more information on them, assess them and see what we need to do.

"This is part of the process, we knew we were going to get injuries - that's why we didn't want to officially name our team for the World Cup beforehand, because if we got injuries against Newcastle we would have been in trouble. All in all, we're not too bad."

ESPN understands the 31 players who participated in the defeat to Falcons will be Haig's final squad, dependent on both Zhavnia and Talakhadze's condition. Injuries and result aside, the Kiwi has reasons to be positive ahead of his side's World Cup campaign.

Haig's objective in England is for Georgia to win two of their Pool C games and finish third in their group, thus qualifying automatically the next World Cup in Japan - something they have never previously achieved.

Defending champions New Zealand will almost certainly be out of reach and victory against Argentina will be a tough ask but, if they iron out the set piece deficiencies that cost them in Newcastle, victories against Namibia and Tonga are highly achievable.

"The intensity and the energy were good, certainly in the first half and it was evident in the second team that came on," Haig said. "It's just a matter of the micro things - we missed three lineouts on the Newcastle 22-yard mark. Those things cost you.

"We got penalised in the scrum, again in the Newcastle twenty-two, so it's just a matter of making sure we're a bit more disciplined around the ball and a bit more disciplined about what we're doing.

"When we've got the ball, we need to make sure we execute properly. It's starting from scratch again and building from that. It was a really good process for us and exactly what we needed."

© Rob Bartlett

Live Sports

Communication error please reload the page.