Georgia full-back battles on despite tragedy

GEORGIA full-back Merab Kvirikashvili’s tragic story is one which shows how rugby can help try and heal even the biggest wounds.

In July last year, Kvirikashvili was involved in a fatal car crash which killed his wife Nutsa, the mother of his four children.

Three other passengers in a separate car also lost their lives in the horror smash on the KutaisiSamtredia highway.

Kvirikashvili and his Georgian team-mate Giorgi Lominadze survived the incident which rocked the rugby world in the Eastern European country, but the full-back has since found salvation in rugby.

“It has been a very emotional time for Merab, a real roller-coaster,” said Georgian head coach Milton Haig.

“A few weeks after the accident I told him I thought rugby would help him to take his mind off things and give him something on which to focus.”

Kvirikashvili returned to international rugby in November 2016 and is one of Georgia’s best players. He is set to start at full-back against Wales and has 106 caps to his name.

“I can’t imagine how you can get yourself through something like he’s been through and I don’t know how Merab has managed to keep going,” said Haig, who hopes Georgia can one day compete in the Six Nations.

“But when he comes into camp with us I think it gives him a bit of relief. Maybe that’s why he has played so well for us in the last 12 months. Everyone shared in his grief and it just shows what the rugby family can do.”

Georgia will be huge underdogs against Wales, but hope a shock victory can give them a legitimate claim to soon join Europe's elite.

Haig added: “If we were able to knock over a top nation then it would add strength to the Georgian argument to be added to the Six Nations.

“Until we can do that and take a major scalp, our claims are merely hot air. We want to legitimise ourselves by winning a game of this stature.”