Georgian war hero Yachvili helped forge special bond
FRANCE and Georgia square up on Sunday in Bordeaux, only the second time they have met in the Test arena which set me pondering a number of questions about the nature of their close rugby relationship. Some frivolous, some a little more fundamental.
The slightly frivolous first. Why does Georgia, a land full of natural front row tyros, not produce more Test class hookers? By my reckoning there are at least 39 Georgian props currently playing in the Top 14 and ProD2.
Yet I can find only one hooker – the seemingly ageless Jaba Bregvadze who claims to be 34 and is still doing the business for Agen.
Am I missing something? In a land where the default build for adult males between the age of 20 and 35 seems to be 6ft and a muscular 18 stone would you not think some of those props might, at some stage, try switching to hooker?
It would increase their chances of Test selection for Georgia and it would also increase the possibility of their gainful rugby employment around the globe.
The Pumas, until recently, were renowned mainly for their mighty props but that didn’t stop them producing three of the great modern-day hookers, who were all props early in their career – Federico Mendez, Mario Ledesma and Julian Montoya. Where are the great Georgian hookers I ask you?
Another question: Why haven’t the French tried to move in and ‘acquire’ some of the beefier young Lelos who arrive in the country as spotty teenagers – well, bearded teenagers in their cases – and under the current system would be qualified under residency rules just as they begin to hit their prime.
France haven’t hesitated in the past to help themselves to flying Fijians in the backs like Noa Nakaitaci, Virimi Vakatawa and Alivereti Raka and big South African back five forwards. France also does a nice line in second generation Pacific Island forwards although that’s a slightly different debate.
Something makes France hold back with Georgia. I like to think it’s because the French respect the extreme patriotism and loyalty of Georgians. Their rugby players in France are, of economic necessity, hired hands and club stalwarts earning a crust in a foreign land. They never strike me as rugby mercenaries per se or project players.
Georgia – not a big country – wouldn’t think of playing a non-Georgian in their fifteen and they rather expect that to work both ways. It requires a massive act of trust on their part – over the last five years at least half of their annual U20 squads have made their way to France.
To strengthen this argument I note that France have also always left young Argentinian players well alone – 20 years ago it was Pumas wannabees swilling around the French leagues just as the Georgians do today. As with the Lelos, the Pumas would never countenance picking a non-Argentinian and there appears to have been some unwritten rule that France would honour that tradition by diverting envious eyes.
I may be hopelessly naive here and the real reason France haven’t moved in on promising young Georgian players is that they are historically pretty well stocked with their own props. There was no overwhelming pressure to go looking elsewhere.
Back in the mid noughties I did, however, detect supreme frustration in French circles that Mamuka Gorgodze – one of the supreme back five forwards of the 21st century – had already been capped by the time he started tearing up the T14 for Montpellier. He would have filled a gaping hole in the French pack and possibly transformed them into world beaters.
And now for the slightly more serious bit. How did this French-Georgian relationship develop in the first place and how does it seem so mutually beneficial?
It’s an odd one because although there seems to be a six lane rugby highway between Tbilisi and south west France there is still only a very small Georgian community in France, and an estimated 12,000 people.
Given that France is among the most welcoming and cosmopolitan nations on the planet that figure is minute. There are no big Georgian suburbs or estates, instead Georgians or Georgian heritage individuals are scattered pretty randomly around the nation. Students, artists, genuine political refugees from Georgia’s turbulent past, basketball players, actresses, the sons and daughters of sportsmen.
And yet we have this very close supportive relationship. I believe much of this can be laid at the feet of Michel Yachvili and his family and one of the most inspiring and romantic rugby tales in the sport’s canon which forged an affinity between the French rugby community and incoming Georgians that cannot be broken.
Michel, France’s fiery hooker when they won their first Grand Slam in 1968, was the son of Charles Yachvili who was in turn one of 11 children born into a Georgian family which found themselves part of old Russia. As such he fought in the siege of Leningrad, got captured by the Germans, was sent to a POW camp, escaped once and was recaptured, and then escaped a second time and walked across war torn Europe to France in 1943 and the comparative tranquillity of Brive.
Except that Charles, for all his sufferings, didn’t fancy the quiet life in Germanyoccupied France and immediately made himself known to the local French resistance movement and soon became a leader in that fight to the death.
Along the way he met a French girl, Germaine, got married and had three sons, one of whom turned out to be one of France’s best ever scrum-halves, the super cool Dimitri Yachvili who won 61 caps for Les Bleus and played in their 2010 Slam and performed outstandingly well in the RWC2011 final. His older brother Charles played flanker for Georgia once they had prised themselves away from Russia. The two brothers both played at RWC2003.
The French love this stuff, they can’t get enough of it and respect war heroes from whatever nation. Their admiration of and connection with the Yachvillis kick started a broader love of Georgian rugby generally and when ambitious young bucks like Ilia Zedginidze, who captained Georgia RWC2007, goalkicker Malkhaz Urjukashvili and Gorgodze pitched up at smaller unfashionable clubs they arrived with the strongest of implied recommendations. They weren’t just welcomed, they were embraced.
There won’t be much love on display at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeax on Sunday but make no mistake it’s there in the background.