Georgia rugby team captain collects accolades for World Cup performance

Georgia’s national rugby team captain and standout performer Mamuka Gorgodze has been named by prestigious Rugby World magazine among the top players who performed exceptionally during the Rugby World Cup pool stage.

The magazine compiled a list of 15 World Cup players according to their performances during the earlier stages of the tournament.

The final team included stars from nine teams, among them Gorgodze. The magazine selected him for the team’s number seven spot and praised his performance against Tonga as well as his personality that was written "large across this World Cup”.

Gorgodze’s importance for his team was also noted by Rugby World while citing Georgia’s drop in its match against Argentina while their star performer - affectionately known to fans as Gorgodzilla - was awarded a yellow card and 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

The Georgian rugby team was welcomed home by supporters in capital Tbilisi on their return from England. Photo by Georgian Rugby Union/Facebook.

The full team by the magazine’s experts can be viewed here.

Gorgodze’s standout performance for Georgia was also the subject of the official World Cup statistics for the team, published by the tournament’s Twitter channel today.

Georgia’s captain topped the comparative figures in four out of five key categories for his team:

THAT MAN AGAIN... Mamuka Gorgodze was one of the stars of #RWC2015 - and these #GEO stats show why pic.twitter.com/P3lcUxV51K

— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 14, 2015

Georgia qualified for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan after beating Namibia 17-16 in the closest match of the pool stages on October 8.

The team was welcomed on its return to Georgia the following day by supporters at Tbilisi Shota Rustaveli International Airport.