Autumn Fixture Hopes Dashed as Wales-Georgia Match Struggles with Player Release
Plans for an anticipated autumn fixture between Wales and Georgia have been dashed due to player release issues, leaving the two countries to explore a potential meeting in the summer of 2025.
The respective unions had been in amicable discussions over a prospective November match, with Georgia’s Lelos president Ioseb Tkemaladze describing it as the “game everyone wants to see.” However, the fact that the game would have fallen outside World Rugby’s designated Test window proved to be an insurmountable hurdle.
“the game everyone wants to see.”
- Ioseb Tkemaladze, Georgia Lelos president
Wales, who finished bottom of the 2024 men’s Six Nations without a win, would have been missing several key players, including captain Dafydd Jenkins, flanker Tommy Reffell, lock Will Rowlands, and others like Nick Tompkins and Christ Tshiunza. Similarly, Georgia would have been significantly weakened, with the unavailability of stars like Davit Niniashvili, Beka Gorgadze, and Vasil Lobzhanidze.
While the failure to secure the highly anticipated match will disappoint many supporters, there is still hope that Wales and Georgia could face off in the Georgian capital Tbilisi next summer. The Welsh Rugby Union’s executive director of rugby, Nigel Walker, had been in discussions with Tkemaladze about the potential fixture.
Wales’ Autumn Nations Series schedule remains an exciting one, with fixtures against Fiji, Australia, and double world champions South Africa on November 10, 17, and 23, respectively. The WRU will be hoping that the Sunday timeslots for the first two matches do not impact ticket sales, as income from home games is crucial to their business model.
All of Wales’ Autumn Nations Series matches, as well as the 21 fixtures taking place in total, will be screened live on TNT Sports. Confirmation on domestic broadcast rights for Wales matches and the involvement of Welsh language channel S4C is expected to be announced soon.
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