Already on a high following the Junior Lelos’ first ever win at the World Rugby U20 Championship, Georgian rugby will be taken to another level altogether on Friday if the country's senior national team can round off their historic tour of the Pacific Islands with a win over Fiji.

Having managed a draw and a win against Samoa and Tonga respectively in the past fortnight, Milton Haig’s side face the stiffest test of their three-week assignment when they play the higher-ranked Fijians at the ANZ Stadium in Suva.

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With 1.66 rating points up for grabs, victory would not only see the Lelos return home unbeaten, and vindicate the decision to expose them to more challenging fixtures after their heroics at Rugby World Cup 2015, it would also lift them to an all-time high of 11th in the World Rugby Rankings if combined with a defeat for Japan at home to Scotland.

A place in the world’s top 10 is even possible if Georgia rack up the tries and win by more than 15 points, and Scotland complete a 2-0 series win over the Brave Blossoms in Tokyo.

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Georgia will certainly fancy their chances of springing a surprise, especially as Fiji have had to play their ‘get out of jail’ card twice, coming from behind at half-time to beat both Tonga and Samoa to retain the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup.

The Lelos' match-day squad features the stars of the last gasp 23-20 win over Tonga, Merab Kvirikashvili and David Kacharava, with both players set to earn their 95th international cap. 

"Everyone is ready to give everything they have for the whole match so that we have a chance to write 'history' once again for Georgian rugby," said Haig.

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.

Fiji will come to within nine hundredths of a rating point of France if they win by more than 15 points and Les Bleus suffer a second defeat to Argentina by the same margin. Les Bleus dropped to an all-time low in the rankings last weekend when a 30-19 defeat in Tucuman saw them fall one to ninth. Guy Noves’ side can reclaim eighth spot if they can turn things around within the space of six days and win the return match at the same venue, and Scotland slip to defeat in Tokyo.

While Fiji have already claimed the Pacific Nations Cup silverware, Samoa (ranked 15th) and Tonga (14th) will be going all out for glory in the final round of fixtures as results from across this year and next count towards Rugby World Cup 2019 qualification. Any form of win for Samoa would result in the nations swapping places in the rankings.

If Italy lose in Canada, Samoa stand to gain two places and move up to 13th. The USA need to beat Russia and hope Canada lose to the Azzurri to stand any chance of reclaiming the 17th spot they surrendered to their North American rivals last weekend. Russia will drop out of the world’s top 20 in defeat with Namibia the beneficiaries.

THIRD TIME LUCKY FOR WALES?

Sitting steadfast at the top of the rankings are New Zealand, a place they have occupied since November 2009. A 3-0 series whitewash of Wales is theirs for the taking this weekend, however a win of any description in Dunedin would not come with any addition to their 96.10rating points total due to the disparity between the sides from a rankings perspective.

If Wales are able to convert their 60-minute performances from the first two tests into a winning 80 minutes, they would gain two rating points and move up to fifth, ahead of Argentina, regardless of how Los Pumas fare in the second of their home tests against France. It is even possible for a winning Wales to climb to third but it would take an extraordinary set of results, including away wins for Six Nations rivals England, Ireland and France, for that to happen.

England will be desperate to complete a clean sweep of victories against Australia, and cement second place in the rankings in the process. They stand to gain 1.5 rating points if they can match or better the winning margin they managed last time out in Melbourne (23-7) when they sign off for the summer at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney. Neither Australia nor South Africa can catch them even in victory.

The only way Ireland can overhaul South Africa and take fourth place is if they record a winning margin of more than 15 points against the Springboks in the third and final test in Port Elizabeth. 

Main photo credit: Zoomfiji