If you ask why rugby is so popular in Georgia, people will tell you it connects to something older than the modern sport. The country has a traditional game called lelo, a village contest played with a leather ball across open countryside, that predates British rugby by centuries. When British colonists and missionaries brought rugby to the Caucasus in the late 19th century, it found a population that already understood competitive ball-carrying games as a form of community identity.
Today, Georgia is one of the most rugby-obsessed countries in the world by any per-capita measure. The sport is embedded in everyday life in a way that is hard to overstate. Rugby matches stop traffic. The national team’s World Cup performances are watched on public screens in the capital Tbilisi. The country has produced players for French Top 14 clubs at a rate that makes Georgian rugby one of France’s primary talent pipelines.
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Why rugby is popular in Georgia
Partly history, partly the physical style of the game, partly national character. Georgian men are traditionally large, height and build that translate well to forward-heavy rugby. The scrum, the lineout, the carrying game, all suit Georgian physicality in the same way that New Zealand’s athletic culture suits the running game.
The sport also arrived during the Soviet era (Georgia joined the USSR’s rugby structure in the 1930s) and developed a serious competitive structure even before independence in 1991. When Georgia became an independent nation, rugby was already established as the de facto national sport, and the newly formed Georgian Rugby Union channelled that energy into international competition.
There are around 25,000 registered rugby players in Georgia in a country of approximately 3.7 million people, a ratio that significantly exceeds most European nations outside the traditional rugby powers.
The Lelos: Georgia’s national rugby team
The national team’s nickname is the Lelos, taken directly from the traditional game. Georgia has appeared at the Rugby World Cup every tournament since 2003. They have not yet advanced beyond the pool stage, but they have been competitive. They consistently beat other Tier 2 nations and have occasionally pushed Tier 1 teams close.
At the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, Georgia beat Portugal and were competitive in losses to Wales and Australia. The squad featured players based at French clubs (Stade Aurillacois, Nevers, Agen) who play Top 14 and Pro D2 rugby week to week.
Merab Sharikadze is the current team captain and most recognisable figure in Georgian rugby. He plays flanker and has been capped over 50 times. Davit Zirakashvili, a prop, has spent years in the French system and typifies the Georgian player model: physically dominant, technically solid, and tournament-hardened by weekly professional rugby abroad.
Georgia’s campaign to join the Six Nations
This is the defining political question in Georgian rugby. Georgia has consistently argued they should replace Italy in the Six Nations, or that the competition should expand to include them. Their case rests on World Cup results (Georgia has beaten teams that Six Nations sides have struggled against) and on the quality of players competing weekly in European professional rugby.
World Rugby created the expanded Championship concept and the 2024 Six Nations format came with additional fixtures and a possible pathway, but Georgia has not yet been admitted as a full Six Nations member. The Georgian Rugby Union continues to push for inclusion, and many rugby analysts argue it is only a matter of time.
The counterarguments are commercial: the Six Nations works as a product because of England vs France, England vs Ireland, France vs England derbies that carry centuries of history. Adding Georgia is competitively logical but commercially complex.
Georgian players in European rugby
The French rugby pipeline from Georgia is well-established. Georgian props, locks, and flankers populate Top 14 and Pro D2 rosters across France. Clubs in the south of France (Clermont, Montpellier, Lyon, Castres) have all employed Georgian players at various points.
This creates an interesting dynamic: Georgia’s best players develop their skills in weekly French club rugby, then bring that experience back to the national team. The level of preparation Georgian players have for Test rugby has risen substantially over the past 15 years as a result.
Rugby clubs in Georgia
Domestically, the GRU Premiership runs the top-level Georgian club competition. Lelo Saracens, Locomotive, RC Batumi, and Black Lion are the major clubs. Black Lion was the first Georgian team to participate in European club competition, entering the EPCR Challenge Cup.
The Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi holds around 53,000 and hosts Test matches, which regularly sell out for significant games. The atmosphere in Tbilisi for a home Georgia World Cup qualifier has been described by visiting teams as one of the most intense in European rugby.
More in the rugby cluster: Georgia’s ambition to join the Six Nations makes Rugby in Italy a useful read. Italy’s recent resurgence shows what Tier 1 status demands. For another nation where rugby is woven into national identity against all economic odds, see Rugby in Fiji. For the full overview of which countries play and love rugby worldwide, see the full rugby countries guide.
FAQ: rugby in Georgia
Why is rugby so popular in Georgia?
Rugby connects to an older Georgian ball-carrying tradition called lelo. The sport arrived in the late 19th century and found a population that already understood the game culturally. Georgian physicality (large forwards, strong carrying) suits the style. The sport became deeply embedded before Georgian independence in 1991 and has remained the de facto national sport since.
Why do they play rugby in Georgia?
The sport arrived through Russian and British influence during the Soviet era and became established through club rugby in Tbilisi and other cities. By the time Georgia became independent, rugby was already the most popular sport and the national team had a competitive structure to build on.
Is rugby popular in Georgia?
Extremely. It is the national sport, more popular than football by most measures. Test matches sell out a 53,000-seat stadium, and the national team’s World Cup campaigns are followed nationally with intense interest.
Has Georgia ever beaten a Tier 1 nation in rugby?
Georgia has beaten Tier 1 nations in non-Test match contexts and has come close in World Cup pool matches. They have not yet beaten England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, South Africa, or Australia in a World Cup fixture, which is the threshold most use to define Tier 1 status.
What is Georgia’s rugby team called?
The Lelos. The name comes from lelo, a traditional Georgian ball game predating modern rugby by centuries.
The bigger picture
Georgia is the clearest example of a country where rugby means something beyond sport. It connects to history, national identity, and the specific character of Georgian men and their communities. The campaign to join the Six Nations is not just about winning matches, it is about recognition from the sport’s establishment that Georgia belongs at the top table.
For the full story of how rugby spread globally and why some countries took to it more than others, see the rugby countries overview. For Georgian rugby in the context of national sporting identities around the world, the national sports article covers the broader picture.
