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Pavle's got Georgia on his mind(Rugby News Service) Monday 24 September 2007
By Lena Zak From Villefranche
VILLEFRANCHE, 24 September - Fly half Pavle Jimsheladze has seen a lot change in the 12 years he has been playing top-flight rugby for Georgia. Last week brought another, with Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili announcing plans to increase funding for the sport.
"If our president really does this, there's huge potential. I think Georgia can reach as high as the big European teams in a few years, say seven or eight," Jimsheladze said.
Crowd supportJimsheladze, who joined the national team in 1995, is about to make his return to play after aggravating a leg muscle tear against Argentina. He said spectators had started turning up to Georgia's training sessions since their narrow 14-10 defeat by Ireland.
"Having this support gives us a lot of confidence that we can do something in the rugby family," he said. However, he is well aware Georgia's results have not come easily.
"We trained so hard for this. It was the first time that it was so hard and intense for all of us. In 2003 we didn't do 10 per cent of what we did to prepare for this world cup. Now we're collecting the fruits of our labours."
"The self-respect is the biggest gain. Respect for our rugby, for Georgia. When you work this hard, that's an enormous gain."
Against the elementsThe 32-year-old sees the obstacles the team have had to overcome as an essential element propelling Georgia towards their goal.
"Out of the 20 nations here, I think we're the only ones to be from a country where not a single club has its own stadium, its own changing rooms," said Jimsheladze.
"Our national team only bought its own stadium in 2003. Now we can train there. Until then we trained in some village in a tiny stadium. There was nowhere in Georgia to go out, put on your boots and just train."
საქართველოს მორაგბეთა ნაკრები მსოფლიო ჩემპიონატზე, RUGBY WORLD CUP 2007
