Georgia v Italy - teams and prediction

PREVIEW: Italy will look to bounce back from their heavy defeat to Argentina last weekend when they entertain an up-and-coming Georgia side on Sunday.

Given the teams’ recent performances and their ongoing rivalry, both sides have reason to view this fixture as a must-win.

This is Georgia’s first Nations Series contest having not been in action since summer encounters with Fiji, Japan, and Australia, losing two of those matches.

In general, though, they have made great strides over the last few years, including a win over Italy in 2022 in one of the only three meetings between the sides, Italy having won the other two.

Italy and Georgia have faced each other on three occasions, with the Azzurri claiming two victories (2003, 2018) to the Lelos’ one. Notably, all three matches were won by the home side.

Georgia’s sole win over Italy came in July 2022, with a narrow but historic 25-19 victory marking their first-ever triumph over a Tier 1 nation. Since then, they have gone on to claim notable scalps, including a famous win against Wales in the 2022 Nations Series.

Italy comes into this match with a mixed record. They have won four of their last six Test matches, securing victories over Scotland and Wales, and earning a nail-biting draw against France in the 2024 Six Nations. During the summer tours, they defeated Tonga and Japan, winning three of their last five games.

Georgia, meanwhile, has won six of their eight Test matches in 2024 (L2). However, their two losses have occurred in their last three fixtures, against Fiji (12-21) and Australia (29-40), a match where they scored an incredible 110-metre try.

The Lelos continues to build on its formidable forward play, complemented by an increasingly dynamic backline. Its victories over Italy and Wales in 2022 demonstrated its ability to compete with Tier 1 nations.

They are captained by Vasil Lobzhanidze, the youngest player ever to participate in the World Cup (2015), and coached by Richard Cockerill.

The former title-winning Leicester and England forwards coach, who was interim coach after Eddie Jones’ sacking in 2022, took charge of Georgia in January this year.

💬 Overall we need to keep improving as a team but also try to win at the same time” – Richar Cockeril on The Lelos squad and November Internationals 🏉 https://t.co/3k12ljK1yM pic.twitter.com/udb0JrGNC0

— Georgian Rugby (@GeorgianRugby) October 25, 2024

Italy will be without two key players for their grudge match against Georgia. Italian star Ange Capuozzo suffered a head injury in the seventh minute of the game against Argentina.

Federico Ruzza is also out, having left the field in the 44th minute with a rib injury.

Italy’s head coach Gonzalo Quesada is picking up the pieces after a bruising 18-50 defeat to Argentina last weekend, with the Italians delivering an error-strewn display with handling errors plaguing them throughout the contest in Udine.

Commenting on the Georgia game after last week’s loss to the Pumas, Italy’s Leonardo Marin said: “We will definitely have to be more precise against Georgia. We made a lot of mistakes in some phases of the match against Argentina, with them being good at taking advantage of all the opportunities.

“It will be essential to be patient against Georgia, trying not to want everything right away.

“We are definitely better than the performance we showed in Udine against Argentina. The gap in the result is probably too big, but we conceded too much.”

Georgia is a force to be reckoned with in attack. In this year’s Europe Championship, they averaged the most carries (116), metres gained (446), and defenders beaten (27.6) per game of any side in the competition. In contrast, Italy averaged the fewest in all three categories during this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations (93 carries, 323 metres gained, 16 defenders beaten).

Italy, however, are a formidable defensive unit. They conceded the second-fewest points per entry (2.2) at the 2024 Six Nations, with only Championship winners Ireland conceding fewer (1.7).

Teams:

Italy: 15 Matt Gallagher, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex, 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Michele Lamaro (captain), 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Niccolo Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Giacomo Nicotera, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Pietro Ceccarelli, 19 Riccardo Favretto, 20 Manuel Zuliani, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Giulio Bertaccini

Georgia: 15 Davit Niniashvili, 14 Aka Tabutsadze, 13 Giorgi Kveseladze, 12 Tornike Kakhoidze, 11 Alexander Todua, 10 Luka Matkava, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze (captain), 8 Tornike Jalagonia, 7 Giorgi Tsutskiridze, 6 Illa Spanderashvili, 5 Giorgi Javakhia, 4 Giorgi Babunashvili, 3 Irakli Aptsiauri, 2 Vano Karkadze, 1 Nika Abuladze
Replacements: 16 Luka Nioradze, 17 Giorgi Akhaladze, 18 Luka Japaridze, 19 Lado Chachanidze, 20 Luka Ivanishvili, 21 Gela Aprasidze, 22 Tedo Abzhandadze, 23 Demur Tapladze

Date: Sunday, November 17
Venue: Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa
Kick-off: 13.40 GMT (14.40 Italy time)
Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand), Damian Schneider (Argentina)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)