Georgia won the Rugby Europe Championship (also called the B Tournament) on Sunday, at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris (the grounds of the Stade Français), by winning the final against Portugal (36-10). This is the 13th title for the “Lelos” in the last 14 editions. Hooker Vano Karkadze and scrum-half Mikheil Alania also scored for Georgia, coached by Richard Cockerill since January, after their failure in Montpellier. Portugal saved honor late in the match through Rodrigo Marta, but he struggled to compete with the Georgian power, notably being dominated in the scrum and losing many throws in touch. The Portuguese “wolves” were not able to repeat the performance they achieved during the last World Cup in France, when the two teams ended in a draw (18-18).
The Georgians scored the first try in the 43rd minute when flyhalf Luka Matkava played a perfect cross kick for Tabutsadze who scored in the corner, the second try was scored hard by Karkadze. By then the game was over for Portugal and Tabutsadze accelerated to score the third try before Alania finished off a nice move.
Portugal, who were surprised by Belgium (10-6) in the group stage, are now preparing to face world champions South Africa in Bloemfontein on July 20. Spain took third place in this edition by resisting Romania to win 40-33.