Toulouse (AFP)

Saturday at Twickenham, the Georgian rugby team will begin a new chapter in its young history, opposed for the first time to three major European nations (England, Wales, Ireland).

Rapid growth to which France has contributed via coach Claude Saurel, then a massive import of players.

“I was training in the public gardens. We were hugging the embankments, that's where there was a little grass… They had just come out of a civil war, everything was smashed. had a bodyguard for 4 years. "

It's hard to escape romantic clichés when you listen to the 72-year-old globetrotter Claude Saurel recount his fascinating beginnings at the head of the "Lelos".

The nickname of the Georgian selection, taken from a traditional sport similar to rugby, imported during the Cold War by a Franco-Armenian, Jacques Haspekian, in this rural country of the Caucasus populated by only 3.7 million inhabitants.

In the mid-1990s, Saurel, former coach of Béziers, two French championship titles (1981, 1983) to his credit, responded favorably to the request sent to him on a sidewalk by a vice-president of the Georgian Federation installed for the business in Montpellier.

"You roughly place us? We are passionate about rugby, we have taken our independence and we would like to progress, come and train."

- The party at Félix-Bollaert -

For Saurel, a pioneer of world rugby, also passed through Morocco, Tunisia and Russia, the adventure lasts seven years and ends with a first participation in the Rugby World Cup, in 2003 in Australia where the Lelos sink face England (84-6) and crack against South Africa (46-19).

Whatever, Saurel laid the groundwork.

"I met passionate, magnificent people, players of exceptional size. I said to myself: these people are made to play rugby", recalls in an interview with AFP Hérault, arrived in Tbilisi with a fitness trainer.

Very quickly, the commitment - initially voluntary - of the two professionals paid off.

"We were the 39th European country and quickly we came 7th."

Russia, the hated big brother, has never beaten the Lelos again.

Henry Broncan was their consultant at the 2007 World Cup, when the Lelos won a historic victory against Namibia (30-0) after having come close to the feat against Ireland (10-14).

In Lens, the Gersois remembers a "dantesque evening" with a Georgian delegation multiplied by ten - from 40 to 400 people - and an impressive "solidarity" around the shared bread and wine.

"It is true that France has helped Georgia a lot and that is to France's credit," said Broncan.

- Cheap labor -

Adviser to certain coaches, Saurel has planted the seeds of a Georgian industry that is increasingly present in the Top 14, and no longer only in the front row.

"It's a big cliché that we will have to get rid of", sweeps Saurel who had in 2001 led Georgia to a convincing 10th place in the World Cup at VII, a three-quarter discipline where avoidance is king .

The outbreak of opener Theo Abzhandadze (Brive, 21) and scrum backs Gela Aprasidze (Montpellier, 22) and Vasil Lobzhanidze (Brive, 24) are proof that Georgia is advancing towards a complete team.

In the meantime, the Georgians are bringing happiness to a handful of Top 14 and Pro D2 clubs (Brive, Bordeaux-Bègles, Montpellier, Aurillac) where their reputation for "serious", "rigorous" and "hard to evil ", according to Goderzi Shvelidze, former pillar of Brive now co-coach of the Espoirs team, is not denied.

"Word of mouth works a lot", explains Shvelidze to explain the clear Georgian coloring - 7 players from the professional workforce - taken by the Corrèze club.

"There are quite a few French agents who work on young players, not so much on the Georgian championship as on the Under-20 World Cup. The detection of good players is also done through the center of training of Shevardeni, which is somewhat the equivalent of Marcoussis in France. "

An economic boon for small budgets like Brive and Aurillac, underlines Broncan.

"The Georgians cost less than the South Africans, the New Zealander or the French JIFF (young player). This is why we find them in the less upscale clubs of our championship."

From the Massif Central to Twickenham, there is still a step forward for Georgian rugby.

© 2020 AFP