History will be made in Apia on Saturday when Georgia take to the field for the first time in an international fixture in the Pacific Islands to take on Samoa.

World Rugby’s commitment to delivering an annual competition structure that provides tier two countries with exposure to games at the highest level has brought about fixtures against Samoa, Tonga and Fiji on consecutive weekends in June - a demanding schedule that would test the very best let alone the nation ranked 12th in the World Rugby Rankings.

Challenging themselves, though, is what Georgia are all about as they look to build on their achievements at Rugby World Cup 2015, when two pool wins gained them automatic qualification for Japan 2019. Following on from this month's ground-breaking series, the Lelos will travel to Edinburgh in November for a test against Scotland at Murrayfield.

FIRST VENTURE

First up, however, is Saturday's game against Samoa, a country that Georgia forged a good relationship with when the sides met in Tbilisi back in November 2013, a match the home side edged 16-15. The only other previous meeting was at Georgia’s first Rugby World Cup, in Australia in 2003, when Samoa ran out comfortable winners.

Georgia: A growing power in world rugby?
Having enjoyed their most successful Rugby World Cup yet, Georgia are firmly established as one of the game?s growing powers and The Lelos continued their good form in the recent European Nations Cup.

“Obviously it is a very important stage of our development," said Georgia coach Milton Haig. "It is historic for Georgian rugby, because we've never been to the Islands before, so this is our first venture. It is the first time we would have played all three Pacific Islands teams in the Pacific.

“We are very excited about it and we know it will be very difficult. It is going to be a very tough task to beat Samoa, Tonga and Fiji at their home but this is a kind of environment we need to be in so that we can improve.

“We have trained well the last three days and prepared as well as we can. Samoa will be very physical and confrontational and we must match them muscle for muscle if we are to give ourselves a chance to win."

RWC MEMORIES

The test against Tonga the following Saturday will revive memories of the Lelos’ RWC 2015 victory over the 'Ikale Tahi at Kingsholm in Gloucester.

“One thing we know is that Tonga will want to avenge the World Cup defeat – there is no doubt about that," Haig added. "So they are highly motivated. They have a new coach (Toutai Kefu). He won’t have the same baggage I suppose that the previous one had. But again it’ll be a difficult game as Tonga always is. Beating them at the last World Cup means nothing at the moment but again we can take confidence from that fact.”

According to Haig, Georgia will have to be at their very best if they are to round off their tour of the Pacific with victory over Fiji, the highest ranked off their three opponents.

TOP 10 TEST

“I think Fiji will be the most difficult side to play against. They’ve got game-breakers all over the field and are a very difficult side to defend against.They have the same coaching group they had for the last few years and they have consistency. They have been one of top 10 teams for the last 18 months. Again, it will be a big game for us, the last game of the tour.”

Georgia will be led into battle against Samoa for the 13th time by back-row forward Shalva Sutiashvili, who has 57 caps for his country.

“The team is very experienced and has played the European Nations Cup together this year so it's important we take another step forward here in Apia. Shalva Sutiashvili will captain the team again and with our other leaders in the team, we are confident they will guide our side well," added Haig.