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Home stadium: No specific one, but 65,000 people have been known cram into the Boris Paichadze Stadium - formerly the Dinamo Stadium in Tbilisi - when Georgia play Russia.
Nickname: The Lelos
Number of rugby players in the country: 2,866
National rugby website address: www.rugby.ge
Current national champions: At the time of going to press, there is a three-way tie at the top of the Championship of Georgia between Lelo, Lokomotivi, and Kochebi, with Lelo top on points difference. The teams will play each other twice again in September/October, and the top two teams in the six-team league then play the championship final. Lokomotivi won it in 2006.
Strengths: They ain't pretty, but Georgia tend to bring forth front row after front row of meaty terror. It is no coincidence that most of their rugby exports to the French league are either props or hookers.
Weaknesses:A tiny player base, and the Georgians are yet to find a full set of backs with any genuine pace or flair, so they are frequently caught short out wide.
History in the tournament: 2003 - group stages. Did not qualify for any previous tournament.
Prediction for this tournament: Fortune has given the Lelos a good kicking, and placed them in the group of death with Argentina, hosts France, and Ireland, along with Namibia, who may become Georgia's first Rugby World Cup victims. Elimination at the pool stages, surely.
Coach: Malkhaz Cheishvili took over the reigns from Frenchman Claude Saurel immediately after the 2003 World Cup. Tcheishvili, who played as a scrum-half in the Soviet championship before Georgia became independent in 1989, has accumulated an impressive record as coach winning 16 of 28 Tests against 10 losses and two draws. That included leading his country to success in the second-tier 2006 European Nations Cup which doubled as a qualifier for this year's World Cup before they were pipped to the title on points difference by Romania. The 48-year old then inspired the Georgians to beat Portugal over two legs in a play-off tie to clinch their RWC qualification.
Key player: Assuming politics doesn't get in the way (three of the 75 French-based Georgian players were denied permission to play in the last tournament and were suspended, and another five were sacked and arrived in Australia as free agents), prop Davit Zirakashvili of Clermont could be a crucial cog in Georgia's wheel. He holds himself up against some of the best in Europe on a weekly basis, a nice prop to have when the rest of the team is largely heading into the unknown.
Captain: Ilia Zedguinidze retains the role he occupied at the 2003 World Cup. The try-scoring Auch lock has 14 tries in 46 international games played so far and will be hoping to add to his impressive tally against another World Cup underdog - Namibia.
Rising star: Young Dax centre Irakli Giorgadze could be a revelation in Georgia's backs if the forwards can produce the ball. After three formative years on the fringes of Bourgoin's team, Giorgadze has learned the art of bashing the ball up the middle as well as possessing a smooth sidestep.
Team Nemesis: It won't happen at this Rugby World Cup, but when Georgia plays Russia, people will travel for hundreds of miles to watch, and if they win there are celebrations in the streets. In 2003, Georgia qualified for their first Rugby World Cup at Russia's expense, Levan Tsabadze's try giving them a 17-13 win over their former governors. Over a million people watched on terrestrial television.
Likely headlines: 'Here come the mellow Lelos', 'Georgians purged of puddings and pies', 'Silly-vili'
Price of a pint: A heart-warming E2.00
Rugby player/sheep ratio: 1:35
