“Our goal is to play against everyone as a competitor – play against everyone to win and show everyone we can play against the tier one countries,” he told CNN Sports.
Georgian captain Merab Sharikadze. Source: Levan Verdzeuli/Getty Images
A fuming Georgian captain Merab Sharikadze said the only positive they have is their remaining Rugby World Cup matches against the Flying Fijians and Wales.
This was after Georgia almost blew away a 13-5 lead at halftime against RWC debutants Portugal only to settle for an 18-18 draw yesterday (Fiji time).
The Lelos were fortunate that Nuno Sousa Guedes missed a last minute penalty, which could have swung the final score to Portugal’s favour.
“We have another two games and we need to improve,” Sharikadze said.
“We missed so many opportunities. We should have scored a lot of tries in the first half. We have another two games and we need to improve. A draw is not a good result for us. Maybe Portugal will be happy with a draw, but not us. A positive is that we have two more games against Fiji and Wales.”
Sharikadze reiterated that they need to capitalise on their chances against Fiji and Wales while the scores will take care of itself.
Georgia, who had already beaten Fiji and Wales in 2016 and 2022 respectively, now rest their hopes of repeating that performance to boost their chances of qualifying from Pool C.
Georgia head coach Levan Maisashvili said in an earlier interview that he wants to win “a minimum of two games to get straight qualification for the 2027 World Cup.”
“Our goal is to play against everyone as a competitor – play against everyone to win and show everyone we can play against the tier one countries,” he told CNN Sports.
The Flying Fijians take on Georgia at Stade de Bordeaux in France, on Sunday at 3.45am.
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