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Georgia will compete at Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. Twenty-four years after debuting at the World Cup in 2003, the Lelos will be back in Australia again. Georgia booked their spot in the Australia 2027 tournament by seeing off Switzerland and the Netherlands in qualifying. The Lelos’ spot was confirmed by Spain downing Switzerland.
Georgia broke records in beating Switzerland in their opening Rugby World Cup 2017 Qualifier. The 110-0 win was the biggest in Georgia history. With Spain also winning their opening match with a bonus point, and denying the opposition points, it meant wins for both teams in the second round would be sufficient to book spots in Australia 2027.
Game two saw Georgia almost again keeping the opposition scoreless. Georgia powered out to a 19-0 half-time lead against the Netherlands. The home supporters at Avchala Rugby Stadium were treated to first-half tries to Tornike Kakhoidze, Vaska Lobzhanidze, and Akaki Tabutsadze.
The second-half saw Giorgi Mamaiashvili scoring his first test try for the Lelos. The loose head prop’s score was followed by another as captain Beka Saghinadze made it a 33-0 scoreline. Giorgi Javakhia also scored before the Netherlands went over for a late consolation try. The match finished 40-7 with Georgia officially qualifying for Australia 2027.
The qualifiers are organized in two pools of four. Pool A consists of Georgia, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland while Pool B is comprised of Belgium, Georgia, Germany and Portugal. The top two from each pool advance to the Semi Finals where seedings for the World Cup will be determined.
The third and fourth places sides from the pools will compete for the repechage birth. World Rugby has allocated Rugby Europe with four direct slots for Australia 2027. The four to qualify will do so as Europe 1, Europe 2, Europe 3 and Europe 4. Three of the remaining teams will be eliminated with Europe 5 entering global repechage.
Georgia are still to play their third match of the qualifiers. The Lelos travel to Madrid to face Spain on February 16. The Netherlands take-on Switzerland in the battle for third place in the pool.
 GEORGIA  110-0 SWITZERLAND |
GEORGIA 40-7 NETHERLANDS |
