Georgians know Vito Kolelishvili who fought at the field like a lion and got compared to King Leonidas due to the emotions he displayed after the game was over.

“Sixteening” used to be my favorite childhood game: No matter what you were asked, the answer always was 16. As of late, it seems that a large part of Georgia has taken up this game too. “I am sixteenth” is the official motto of the campaign in support of Georgia’s National Rugby Team, implying that the fans are the invisible 16th member of a typical 15-man team, providing it with much-needed support.

The country should know its heroes, and it already does. Few people will fail to recognize Mamuka “Gorgodzilla” Gorgodze, captain of the rugby team, who, aside from numerous tries, managed to accumulate a whopping 27 tackles against Tonga, earning himself the title of the best player of the match.

After the historical match that took place last Satuday at Gloucester’s Kingsholm Stadium, the ranks of the “sixteenths” have swelled significantly. The Georgian team beat Tonga’s with a score of 17:10, winning a game that they spent four years preparing for. This is the fourth time the Georgian National Team competes for the World Cup, but this is the first instance of it winning against such a powerful opponent. On the same day, the Japanese team defeated its South African counterpart with a sensational score of 34:32, but the paths of Sakura and our Lelos are unlikely to cross anytime soon.

18-year-old Vasil Lobzhanidze performed splendidly during the match, becoming the youngest player ever to compete at the World Cup.

The country should know its heroes, and it already does. Few people will fail to recognize Mamuka “Gorgodzilla” Gorgodze, captain of the rugby team, who, aside from numerous tries, managed to accumulate a whopping 27 tackles against Tonga, earning himself the title of the best player of the match. Georgians know Vito Kolelishvili who fought at the field like a lion and got compared to King Leonidas due to the emotions he displayed after the game was over. They know 18-year-old Vasil Lobzhanidze, who performed splendidly during the match, becoming the youngest player ever to compete at the World Cup. Georgia knows every single player that took part in that remarkable game. Each and every single one of them gave the match his best, starting a new page in the history of Georgian rugby. Three of them – Mamuka Gorgodze, Mikheil Nariashvili and Vasil Lobzhanidze – even ended up on the week’s symbolic team!

The Tongan team, nicknamed Sea Eagles, starts its matches with Sipi Tau, a war dance. Georgians are not strangers to dancing either, but their Dimpi Tauri is kept strictly outside stadiums – these are for fighting only.

During the match, the Georgian scrum bound the Tongans, preventing them from going into full swing. Also, our team played the last ten minutes with only 14 members, yet not even this disadvantage has stopped them from winning.

“This was the best victory in our history so far. We are a small team, and never before have we graced our country with triumph of such a scale,” Mamuka Gorgodze commented after the match. He wasn’t wrong, except for the fact that this small team also has a big heart and a sixteenth player.

In just a couple days’ time, on September 25, this big heart will be tested again: A match with Argentina is approaching, and its team is considerably stronger than Tonga’s. But even though defeating Los Pumas is close to impossible for Georgia, our team has already fulfilled its heroic minimum. However, there is also a theory that breaching the glass ceiling in the latest match would untie our players’ hands and allow them to play more freely against Argentina and New Zealand. Victory against them would prove a pleasant, albeit an unlikely bonus to what the Lelos have already achieved.

P.S. But maybe, just maybe... Don’t cry for me Argentina!