Georgia's "historic" game against rugby world champions South Africa postponed
The Lelos were scheduled to face the current world champions in July for their first test game outside the Rugby World Cup. Photos: Tamuna Kulumbegashvili/qz.com.
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The Georgian national rugby team will have to wait for their first test game against world champions South Africa after the World Rugby governing body's postponement of games previously scheduled for July.
Citing "ongoing government and health agency COVID-19 directives", the organisation announced the postponement of test - or friendly - fixtures between national teams during the month on Friday.
Extended travel and quarantine restrictions that apply to numerous countries, and concerns over adequate player preparation time, mean that any sort of cross-border international rugby competition cannot be hosted in July," the World Rugby announcement reads.
Joint statement on postponement of July internationalshttps://t.co/bHfr893tZT
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) May 15, 2020
The Lelos were scheduled to face South Africa - winners of last year's Rugby World Cup - on July 18 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elisabeth.
Dubbed "historic" by the Georgia Rugby Union, the game would have represented the first time the two teams faced one another outside the Rugby World Cup. They first played a game in the 2003 tournament in Australia.
Talks for a test match between the sides were held during the 2019 World Cup in Japan, with GRU President Gocha Svanidze revealing involvement by the World Rugby governing body in the process.
In their update World Rugby said they would work with their member unions from related countries to prepare a new calendar for fixtures for the remainder of 2020.