Saturday 17th March 2012 KO: 15:00 Russia Vake Stadium, Facts & Figures

HEADLINES HEAD TO HEAD

• Georgia come into the match having extended their lead • Saturday’s clash between Georgia and Russia is the 16th at the top of Division 1A with a 19-13 win over Romania meeting between the two sides. Georgia have dominated in . Meanwhile Russia bounced back from their the series, winning 13 of the 15 matches. There has been 25-0 loss to Romania last month with a 38-19 victory over one draw between the sides (12-12) in 2002. Ukraine in Sochi. • Despite Georgia dominating the results between the • Saturday’s Test match between Romania and Georgia will teams, there isn’t as big a difference between the sides be a special day for Georgia flyhalf . in terms of points scored as you’d imagine. Georgia have The flyhalf needs just four more points to overtake Pavle scored 338 points in those 15 fixtures while Russia have Jimsheladze (320 points) and become his country’s highest scored 205. points-scorer of all time. KVIRIKASHVILI will also win his • Russia’s only win in the series came in the first 60th cap for Georgia this weekend. international Test between these two sides in 1993 (15-9). • The two teams last played each other in 2011, with STARTING LINE UPS Georgia winning 15-9 at Yug-Sport in Sochi. • Georgia’s last three home games against Russia have • Georgia make three changes from the side that defeated featured fairly comfortable winning margins for the home Romania 19-13 in Bucharest. LEVAN DATUNASHVILI side. Georgia have scored an average of 38 points in the comes into the second row for three matches while Russia have scored an average of while there is also a change in the back row with GIVI only 13 points. BERISHVILI replacing at openside flanker. • Georgia’s record score against Russia came in 2006, when Meanwhile there is another change at fullback where they beat them 46-19. The record margin between the IRAKLI KIASASHVILI comes in for Giorgi Shkinin. There is sides was recorded in 2010, with Georgia beating Russia also an alteration on the bench, where Brive prop DAVID 36-8. KHINCHAGISHVILI replaces . • Russia make four changes from the team that defeated TRY TIME Ukraine. There are two changes up front, with ANDREY GARBUZOV coming in at openside flanker for PAVEL • With Kingsley Jones as coach, Russia have managed KVERNADZE who drops to the bench. At Number 8 Anton nearly three tries a game while they’ve scored 19 tries Sinitsyn makes way for VICTOR GRESEV. ALEXANDER over the last couple of seasons of European Nations Cup YANYUSHKIN returns to captain the side at scrumhalf action. Georgia coach can boast an identical replacing ALEXANDER SHAKIROV, who is demoted to the try ratio to Jones (2.67 per game) but the Georgians have bench. Meanwhile ANDREY OTROKOV comes in on the left posed more of an attacking threat over the course of the wing for the injured Denis Simplikevich. current European Nations Cup, scoring 32 tries in the • MERAB KVIRIKASHVILI needs just one more successful eight games played. penalty kick to overtake Pavle Jimsheladze (48) and become his country’s most successful penalty marksman of ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? all time. • YURY KUSHNAREV needs just 21 points to become Russia’s • Georgia have the edge on Russia in terms of experience, all-time record points scorer. He is currently second to fielding a total of 524 caps compared to the Russians’ 357. Konstantin Rachov (347). However both sides field teams with similar average ages (27). NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK • Russia’s front row combination is perhaps their most inexperienced sector. ALEXEY VOLKOV, NAZIR GASANOV • MAKSIM STURZA of Russia will win his first cap if he comes and INNOKENTIT ZYKOV have 12 caps between them. off the bench against Georgia. The 24 year-old prop plays • GIORGI CHKHAIDZE wins his 56th cap for Georgia this for Krazny Yar. weekend against Russia. The 31 year-old, who plays in • Winger ANDREY OTROKOV makes his second appearance France with AS Saint-Junien, made his first appearance a for Russia this weekend, following his debut against decade ago this month, against the Netherlands. Ukraine last week. He celebrated his first cap with a try. • The halfback partnership of IRAKLI ABUSERIDZE and • Replacement hooker KIRILL KOPESHKIN and replacement MERAB KVIRIKASHVILI became Georgia’s second most three-quarter PAVEL BUTENKO were other debutants in last capped starting pair when they took the field against weekend’s win over Ukraine and will win their second caps Romania. The pair will start their 19th Test together respectively if they come off the bench against Georgia. against Russia but are still eight appearances short of the all-time record held by ABUSERIDZE and Pavle MAN IN THE MIDDLE Jimsheladze. • With 52 caps, replacement scrumhalf ALEXANDER • French referee Mathieu Raynal referees his third Test match SHAKIROV is Russia’s most experienced player. He made on Saturday, having made his debut on the international his debut in this fixture back in 2004. scene in 2009 when he refereed Malta versus the Netherlands.

© International Rugby Board 2012. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (16/03/2012 10:00). Page 1 Saturday 17th March 2012 Georgia KO: 15:00 Russia Vake Stadium, Tbilisi Team Sheets

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GEORGIA Irakli IRB RANKING: 15 Kiasashvili Test #: 140 Lelo Replacements 16 Revaz Belkania (US Seynoise) 14 13 12 11 17 David Khinchagishvili (CA Brive-Correze) Irakli David Merab Alexander 18 Giorgi Nemsadze (Valence) Machkhaneli Kacharava Sharikadze Todua 19 Dimitri Basilaia (Valence) Saint Etienne Nice Hartpury College Lelo 20 Giorgi Begadze (Batumi) 21 Lasha Malaguradze (Valence) 10 9 22 Tedo Zibzibadze (Perigueux) Merab Irakli Kvirikashvili Abuseridze (C) AS Saint-Junien Auxerre Key Stats 8 Mamuka # Caps Starting Lineup: 524 Avg Age Starting Lineup: 27 Gorgodze Oldest Player: Irakli Abuseridze (34) Montpellier Herault Youngest Player: (18) 6 Rugby Club 7 Avg Weight Forwards: 107 kg Shalva 5 4 Givi Sutiashvili Berishvili Levan Giorgi Massy Datunashvili Chkhaidze Locomotivi Aurillac AS Saint-Junien Officials 3 2 1 Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France) - 2 Tests David Yuri Vasil Kubriashvili ‘Irakli’ Natriashvili Kakovin Tests at Venue: 0 Tests Georgia: 0 Tests RC Toulonnais CA Brive-Correze CA Brive-Correze Russia: 0 Tests Test Debut: 25/04/2009 - Malta v Netherlands Assistant Referee 1: Cedric Marchat (France) Assistant Referee 2: 1 2 3 Salem Attalah (France) Alexey Nazir Innokentiy Volkov Gasanov Zykov Match Commissioner: VVA Podmoskovye Krasny Yar Enisey STM Rossano Faccioli (Italy)

4 5 6 Denis Kirill 7 Antonov Kulemin Artem Andrey Fatakhov Slava CSP Moscow Castres Olympique Garbuzov VVA Podmoskovye Krasny Yar 8 Replacements Victor 16 Kirill Kopeshkin (Imperiya Penza) Gresev 17 Maksim Sturza (Krasny Yar) London Wasps 18 Vladimir Boltenkov (Imperiya Penza) 19 Pavel Kvernadze (Spartak GM Moscow) 9 10 20 Alexander Shakirov (VVA Podmoskovye) Alexander Anton 21 Pavel Butenko (Enisey STM) Yanyushkin (C) Ryabov 22 Dmitry Gerasimov (Enisey STM) VVA Podmoskovye Krasny Yar

11 12 13 14 Andrey Alexey Sergey Mikhail Key Stats Otrokov Makovetskiy Trishin Babaev Krasny Yar Krasny Yar VVA Podmoskovye VVA Podmoskovye # Caps Starting Lineup: 357 Avg Age Starting Lineup: 27 Oldest Player: Artem Fatakhov (32) 15 Youngest Player: Pavel Kvernadze (21) Avg Weight Forwards: 113 kg Yury Kushnarev VVA Podmoskovye

RUSSIA IRB RANKING: 22 Test #: 136

© International Rugby Board 2012. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (16/03/2012 10:00). Page 2 Saturday 17th March 2012 Georgia KO: 15:00 Russia Vake Stadium, Tbilisi Head to Head

Recent Results Date Team A Result Team B Venue 19/03/2011 Russia 9 15 Georgia Sochi 20/03/2010 Georgia 36 8 Russia Trabzon 22/03/2009 Russia 21 29 Georgia Mariupol 12/04/2008 Russia 12 18 Georgia Krasnoyarsk 24/03/2007 Georgia 31 12 Russia Tbilisi

Summary Georgia 15 Matches (1 Draw) Russia 13 Won 1 338 Points 205 36 Tries 12 22 Conversions 5 33 Penalties 42 5 Drop Goals 3

Player Records For Georgia against Russia For Russia against Georgia 2 Players - 11 Appearances 12 - Vyacheslav Grachev Pavle Jimsheladze - 67 Points 43 - Konstantin Rachkov 3 Players - 3 Tries 2 - Alexander Gvozdovsky Merab Kvirikashvili - 7 Conversions 1 - 5 Players Pavle Jimsheladze - 14 Penalties 12 - Yury Kushnarev 5 Players - 1 Drop Goals 3 - Konstantin Rachkov

Player Records in a Match For Georgia against Russia For Russia against Georgia Pavle Jimsheladze on 08/03/2003 - 23 Points 20 - Sergey Boldakov on 20/10/1996 Beso Udesiani on 04/02/2006 - 2 Tries 2 - Alexander Gvozdovsky on 22/03/2009 On 3 Occasions - 4 Conversions 1 - On 5 Occasions Pavle Jimsheladze on 08/03/2003 - 6 Penalties 5 - On 2 Occasions On 5 Occasions - 1 Drop Goals 2 - Konstantin Rachkov on 08/03/2003

Team Records in a Match For Georgia against Russia For Russia against Georgia On 04/02/2006 - 46 Points 23 - On 04/03/2001 On 04/02/2006 - 6 Tries 3 - On 04/03/2001 On 04/02/2006 - 5 Conversions 1 - On 5 Occasions On 08/03/2003 - 6 Penalties 5 - On 2 Occasions On 20/10/1996 - 2 Drop Goals 2 - On 08/03/2003

© International Rugby Board 2012. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (16/03/2012 10:00). Page 3 Saturday 17th March 2012 Georgia KO: 15:00 Vake Stadium, Tbilisi

Head Coach: Milton Haig Recent Matches Debut: 11/02/2012 v Spain (L 18-25) Date Opponent Result Venue Winning Ratio: 66.67% Average Tries per Match: 2.67 10/03/2012 Romania W 19 13 Bucharest

25/02/2012 Portugal W 32 7 Tbilisi Georgia Record Under Milton Haig 11/02/2012 Spain L 18 25 2 Wins 0 Drawn 1 Lost 02/10/2011 Argentina L 7 25 P’ston North 69 For Points 45 Against 28/09/2011 Romania W 25 9 P’ston North 8 For Tries 5 Against

4 For Conversions 4 Against Points For 101

7 For Penalties 4 Against Points Ag 79

0 For Drop Goals 0 Against Tries For 10

Tries Ag 8 Player Info For Georgia

Caps as Caps v Player Pos Age Debut Caps Won Drawn Lost Points Tries Cons Pens DGs Sub Opponent Vasil Kakovin 1 22 14/11/2008 17 12 1 9 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 Yuri ‘Irakli’ Natriashvili 2 28 29/04/2006 33 13 3 22 1 10 20 4 0 0 0 David Kubriashvili 3 26 02/02/2008 21 9 2 16 1 4 5 1 0 0 0 Giorgi Chkhaidze 4 30 03/02/2002 55 8 6 36 1 18 20 4 0 0 0 Levan Datunashvili 5 29 22/02/2004 48 20 5 32 2 14 15 3 0 0 0 Shalva Sutiashvili 6 28 12/11/2005 24 5 2 18 0 6 5 1 0 0 0 Givi Berishvili 7 24 19/06/2011 6 4 0 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 8 27 22/02/2003 43 5 7 28 3 12 95 19 0 0 0 Irakli Abuseridze (C) 9 34 26/01/2000 78 9 11 49 3 26 35 7 0 0 0 Merab Kvirikashvili 10 28 16/02/2003 59 17 6 34 1 24 317 5 71 48 2 Alexander Todua 11 24 29/03/2008 29 4 2 16 0 13 5 1 0 0 0 Merab Sharikadze 12 18 11/02/2012 3 0 0 2 0 1 5 1 0 0 0 David Kacharava 13 27 29/04/2006 50 10 5 34 1 15 60 12 0 0 0 Irakli Machkhaneli 14 30 03/02/2002 53 5 5 29 2 22 85 17 0 0 0 Irakli Kiasashvili 15 27 02/02/2008 5 1 0 4 0 1 21 0 3 5 0 Total 524 122 55 333 15 176 688 75 74 53 2 Revaz Belkania 16 29 22/02/2004 6 3 1 4 1 1 5 1 0 0 0 David Khinchagishvili 17 29 22/02/2003 37 9 5 25 3 9 15 3 0 0 0 Giorgi Nemsadze 18 27 12/11/2005 23 9 2 15 0 8 25 5 0 0 0 Dimitri Basilaia 19 26 02/02/2008 20 6 1 13 0 7 15 3 0 0 0 Giorgi Begadze 20 26 25/02/2012 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lasha Malaguradze 21 25 02/02/2008 33 8 4 24 1 8 98 3 16 14 3 Tedo Zibzibadze 22 31 26/01/2000 61 5 8 38 3 20 75 15 0 0 0 Records For Georgia Caps Tries Points 78 - Irakli Abuseridze 19 - Mamuka Gorgodze 320 - Pavle Jimsheladze 69 - Malkhaz Urjukashvili 18 - Malkhaz Urjukashvili 318 - Malkhaz Urjukashvili 65 - Gia Labadze 17 - Irakli Machkhaneli 317 - Merab Kvirikashvili

Player Records (In a Match) Team Records (In a Match) Points: 32 - Merab Kvirikashvili v Germany on 06/02/2010 Points: 98 v Czech Republic on 07/04/2007 Tries: 3 - 6 players Tries: 16 v Czech Republic on 07/04/2007 Conversions: 11 - Merab Kvirikashvili v Germany on 06/02/2010 Conversions: 11 v Germany on 06/02/2010 Penalties: 6 - Pavle Jimsheladze v Russia on 08/03/2003 Penalties: 6 on 2 Occasions Drop Goals: 2 - Davit Chavleishvili v Ukraine on 15/07/1992 Drop Goals: 2 on 4 Occasions

© International Rugby Board 2012. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (16/03/2012 10:00). Page 4 Saturday 17th March 2012 Russia KO: 15:00 Vake Stadium, Tbilisi

Head Coach: Kingsley Jones Recent Matches Debut: 11/02/2012 v Portugal (W 33-32) Date Opponent Result Venue Winning Ratio: 66.67% Average Tries per Match: 2.67 10/03/2012 Ukraine W 38 19 Sochi

Russia Record Under Kingsley Jones 25/02/2012 Romania L 0 25 Sochi 2 Wins 0 Drawn 1 Lost 11/02/2012 Portugal W 33 32 71 For Points 76 Against 01/10/2011 Australia L 22 68 Nelson 8 For Tries 11 Against 25/09/2011 Ireland L 12 62 Rotorua 8 For Conversions 6 Against Points For 105 5 For Penalties 2 Against Points Ag 206

0 For Drop Goals 1 Against Tries For 13

Tries Ag 30 Player Info For Russia

Caps as Caps v Player Pos Age Debut Caps Won Drawn Lost Points Tries Cons Pens DGs Sub Opponent Alexey Volkov 1 25 19/04/2008 8 6 0 3 0 5 5 1 0 0 0 Nazir Gasanov 2 26 19/04/2008 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Innokentiy Zykov 3 11/02/2012 2 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Denis Antonov 4 25 12/06/2011 8 1 0 2 0 6 5 1 0 0 0 Kirill Kulemin 5 31 25/02/2006 16 0 2 10 2 4 5 1 0 0 0 Artem Fatakhov 6 32 12/11/2005 43 9 4 18 2 23 5 1 0 0 0 Andrey Garbuzov 7 28 26/02/2005 40 11 5 18 1 21 25 5 0 0 0 Victor Gresev 8 25 14/10/2006 39 6 5 15 1 23 35 7 0 0 0 Alexander Yanyushkin (C) 9 29 05/05/2002 51 20 7 21 2 28 108 9 9 15 0 Anton Ryabov 10 22 12/06/2011 4 1 0 2 0 2 20 0 4 4 0 Andrey Otrokov 11 26 10/03/2012 1 1 0 1 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 Alexey Makovetskiy 12 28 23/01/2010 17 3 1 6 0 11 15 3 0 0 0 Sergey Trishin 13 27 12/11/2005 38 7 4 19 2 17 25 5 0 0 0 Mikhail Babaev 14 26 28/10/2006 38 4 3 18 1 19 10 2 0 0 0 Yury Kushnarev 15 26 12/11/2005 50 6 6 25 2 23 327 6 42 71 0 Total 357 76 37 162 13 182 590 42 55 90 0 Kirill Kopeshkin 16 24 10/03/2012 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Maksim Sturza 17 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Vladimir Boltenkov 18 25 23/10/2010 4 1 0 1 0 3 5 1 0 0 0 Pavel Kvernadze 19 21 25/02/2012 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Alexander Shakirov 20 31 06/03/2004 52 18 6 21 1 30 20 4 0 0 0 Pavel Butenko 21 10/03/2012 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dmitry Gerasimov 22 23 08/11/2008 9 4 0 5 0 4 0 0 0 0 0

Records For Russia Caps Tries Points 78 - Andrey Kuzin 31 - Vyacheslav Grachev 347 - Konstantin Rachkov 75 - Alexander Khrokin 25 - Andrey Kuzin 327 - Yury Kushnarev 73 - Vyacheslav Grachev 16 - Konstantin Rachkov 178 - Vladimir Simonov

Player Records (In a Match) Team Records (In a Match) Points: 29 - Konstantin Rachkov v Germany on 16/04/2000 Points: 104 v Denmark on 13/05/2000 Tries: 4 - 3 players Tries: 17 v Denmark on 13/05/2000 Conversions: 8 - 2 players Conversions: 8 on 3 Occasions Penalties: 6 - 2 players Penalties: 6 on 3 Occasions Drop Goals: 2 - Konstantin Rachkov v Georgia on 08/03/2003 Drop Goals: 2 v Georgia on 08/03/2003

© International Rugby Board 2012. Data extracted from Rugby Information Management System (16/03/2012 10:00). Page 5