Articles with georgia

LELO LELO SAQARTVELO

I don’t know what the referees are thinking as regards high tackles at this World Cup. Getting clotheslined when running at pace by a solid tree trunk of an arm is incredibly dangerous and could easily cause a very serious head injury.

Yet players are still getting away with it nearly scot-free. The only player to suffer a meaningful penalty so far because of a high tackle was the Australian Reece Hodge for his reckless foul on the team that dished one out today, Fiji.

If Fiji had been down to 14 men, that might have compensated for the fact that Georgia had the nightmare four-day turnaround to contend with, which was a large part of why Fiji lost to Uruguay. In the end, though, the cards stayed in the referee’s pocket.

With both high tackles and lack of rest days, it’s been a case of swings and roundabouts for the Islanders. However, their spectacular late show of running, which yielded four tries, does deserve much credit, regardless of the earlier misdemeanour and tired Georgian legs.

I had actually seen this match-up before, in the country where I, strangely enough, have seen more international rugby than anywhere else, Georgia. It only cost a few lari to get into the stadium and nobody was checking tickets, so I got to see both Japan vs Georgia and Fiji vs Georgia in 2012 for peanuts.

The Lelos (“lelo” is a Georgian form of rugby with a long history) beat Japan back then, but lost to the Fijians. I can’t help but think it may have had something to do with the rather ill-advised decision by the crowd to start booing the “Cibi” (the Fijian haka) before kick-off. The visitors were, understandably, pretty riled up after that and flew into their tackles with that extra bit of vigour, shooting into an insurmountable early lead.

Georgia is the home of wine as well as the best comfort food I have ever come across, “adjaruli chaczapuri”. After eating the melted cheese, butter and egg swimming in deliciously baked bread, your heart will be singing but you’ll barely be able to move. Whenever I had one during my time there, it had to be my only meal of the day.

Osaka, where today’s game took place, is also no slouch when it comes to comfort food, being the home of both takoyaki (octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake). If you’re looking for some hearty fare before the rugby and/or a night out, you cannot go far wrong with either option.

In the other game of the day, Ireland got over their Japan hangover to take a comfortable bonus point win over Russia. The Russians did not give in easily, though, making an incredible 182 tackles over the 80 minute encounter.

The action returns to Shizuoka tomorrow, where Italy will take on South Africa. The winner of the game is pretty much guaranteed a quarter-final berth at the expense of the loser, so there’s a lot riding on it.

That quarter-final place may well be in a match against the hosts, which means a repeat of the Brighton game four years ago is a distinct possibility. Japan vs South Africa 2? Yes please.

(Today’s image is of Georgia vs Scotland in Dinamo Tbilisi’s Boris Paichadze Stadium. Thank you to Irakli Giorgadze for his kind permission to use the photo).

Today’s Matches
Fiji 45-10 Georgia (Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka)
Ireland 35-0 Russia (Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe)

Tomorrow’s Match
South Africa vs Italy (1845 JST) (Shizuoka Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka)

Expression of the day
大阪弁が話せますか? (oosaka ben ga hanasemasu ka)
Which means…
Can you speak the Osaka dialect?

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BLACK BALLET

The USA kept the French honest for much of their match today, trailing by only three points with 15 minutes left to play, but three late tries put a gloss on a score line that didn’t really reflect how close the encounter was.

In the late game, the All Blacks returned to the fray with a nine-try 63-0 demolition of Canada, with Richie Mo’unga registering a perfect record on conversions. They look likely to sail into the quarter finals barely breaking a sweat.

The New Zealand team are best known for their world famous Haka, but it should not be forgotten that all Pacific Island nations also have their own versions. In fact, some Maori claim that New Zealand doing the Haka is tantamount to cultural appropriation.

It’s not just traditions that are being appropriated though, as all Tier 1 rugby nations, most notably New Zealand, do their best to lure promising Pacific Islanders to play for their national sides. This has led to a huge drain in talent from the islands of Tonga, Fiji and Samoa, who provide around 20% of all rugby players in the world.

World Rugby has come in for a lot of criticism over this issue and the lack of resources and support to the countries that contribute so much to the game should be a source of embarrassment. At the very least, nationality regulations need to be tightened to prevent the best young talent being coaxed overseas for money.

If a sudden desire to perform the haka outside grabs you in Japan, you can now do so within the confines of the law, as Japan lifted its ban on dancing in public spaces in 2015. Prior to that, the only places you could dance were commercial spaces that had to pay for a dancing licence.

Even in these licensed places, however, you could only dance until midnight as your fairy godmother’s spell would wear off and your carriage would turn into a pumpkin. Well, that’s the only sensible explanation I can think of anyway.

Georgia are back in action tomorrow for a must-win showdown with Fiji, and they know a thing or two about dancing as well. I’ve yet to see anything more impressive than the leaping, bounding and spinning that natives of Saqartvelo can produce. I’d love to see the All Blacks facing off against these guys, also dressed in black.

Today’s Matches
France 33-9 USA (Fukuoka Hakatanomori Stadium, Fukuoka)
New Zealand 63-0 Canada (Oita Stadium, Oita)

Tomorrow’s Matches
Georgia vs Fiji (1415 JST) (Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka)
Ireland vs Russia (1915 JST) (Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe)

Expression of the day
踊るのが好きですか？ (odoru no ga suki desu ka)
Which means…
Do you like dancing?

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