Namibia on Georgia’s mind
‘This is the pinnacle for every rugby player in Georgia, to play the All Blacks at a World Cup.’ Georgia coach Milton Haig
There has been so much work trying to develop depth in different positions in Georgia.’’
Haig, who has been coaching Georgia since 2011, said New Zealand rugby fans might be surprised by how his younger players perform against the world’s top ranked team.
‘‘We are pretty lucky, most of these guys have fresh legs. They are absolutely enthusiastic because some of them haven’t played at the tournament yet, or had a lot of game time . . . they are going to want to prove a point to the coaches to put them in the team for Namibia because that’s a big game for us.’’
Georgia had targeted winning their matches against Tonga and Namibia in order to guarantee a berth at the 2019 World Cup in Japan and Haig hoped All Blacks fans would understand the rationale for rotating his squad this week. Beating Tonga 17-10 in their first match has given Georgia a strong chance of finishing third in their pool and avoiding the long and treacherous qualification process for the next tournament.
‘‘I know the All Blacks are thinking about their performance, but understand it’s the same for us. To have a successful tournament we still have to do a couple of things we want to
Georgia coach Milton Haig. achieve. We have to make sure we play well against the All Blacks on Friday night then we have to win the game against Namibia and if we win that we should automatically qualify for the next World Cup.’’
Holed up at the plush Celtic Manor resort in Newport, Haig said his players were bursting with excitement at the prospects of playing a team that were considered gods in Georgian rugby.
‘‘They are going to want to play with passion and pride in front of what could be a full house. This is the pinnacle for every rugby player in Georgia, to play the All Blacks at a World Cup.
‘‘They absolutely understand that. We understand how difficult it’s going to be, but in the long run as I’ve said to them all week, ‘if you represent your country and your jersey with pride, everything else will take care of itself. Just do that, give it your all for 80 minutes, not 60, not 40 and let’s see what happens. I’m absolutely sure they will do that.’’