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'It was the first time I had seen guys doing the plank with a 130kg teammate sat on their back!' - Rowntree warns England about huge Georgia pack
By Chris Jones
Graham Rowntree, who was Georgia’s forwards coach at last year’s World Cup, has warned England to ignore Georgia's recent loss to Scotland and be prepared to face a torrid battle against "huge men" at Twickenham on Saturday. Georgia were beaten 48-7 by Scotland last month and now face an Autumn Nations Cup group containing England, Wales and Ireland which should be a chance to put forward their case for inclusion in the Six Nations.
Rowntree, now the Munster forwards coach, believes the extra training camps since the Scotland match will ensure the Georgians are able to prove why they are revered as some of the strongest scrummagers in world rugby.
There are a staggering 34 front row forwards from Georgia operating in the top two leagues in France – Top 14 and Pro D2 – with 15 contracted to the best teams in French rugby and another 19 playing one level down.
Rowntree, the former Leicester, England and Lions prop, was part of the England management group and an assistant coach on the 2009, 2013 and 2017 Lions Tours but says working with Georgia was a real eye opener.
He packed down against 16 different rugby nations in a playing career that brought him 54 England caps and three Lions test appearances, and told RugbyPass: "I have worked with some great packs and they are right up there. There is a rightful perception that they love a scrum and they are huge men. They are naturally strong and I remember a training camp at Montpellier where the gym ran out of weights for them.
"It was also the first time I had seen guys doing the plank in the gym with a 130kg team mate sat on their back! Their strength is ridiculous and they can all wrestle which means everyone from a 130kg prop to the 70kg kit man can all take you down very easily.
"They are quick learners and also know how to get themselves out of tricky situations with their strength. When I travelled around France meeting our players with Milton Haig, the head coach, there were so many Georgians in academies in the top two leagues and the guys are like monsters. The French clubs have cupboards full of props from Georgia.
"England are one of the best scrums and they are finding young guys which is really encouraging. In the set piece, Georgia will at times, make it difficult for England and there will be moments when they have a go at England because they are a very proud and passionate nation."
Unfortunately for Georgia, some key forwards are injured and the squad is in transition after post-World Cup retirements while experienced lock Kote Mikautadze, who recently signed a 3-month contract with Bayonne, will not be added to the squad until after the England game.
Georgia won all four of their Six Nations B games earlier this year against Romania, Spain, Belgium and Portugal having lost to Wales (43-14), Australia (27-8), Fiji (45-10) at the 2019 World Cup with one win over Uruguay (33-7).
Eddie Jones, the England head coach, is even considering playing nine forwards on Saturday at Twickenham to help negate a Georgian pack that initiated a brawl when the two countries trained against each other in Oxford last year.
Rowntree added: "Georgia may have to defend multiple phases against England and upwards of 30 rucks and they won’t know how much they can pull the opposition into a set piece game. It is tough pool but Georgia will be better than they showed against Scotland and England will feel their power at moments during the game."
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Yep, I certainly hope so too, he had a real talent for doing it legally. The more he tries the better accuracy/consistency he’ll get. Like I said though, and for whatever reason, his focus has changed this by the looks for me, so I’m happy not to rush him and wait for 2026, and then it all put together at some point where it’s possible he takes the mantel for the RWC.
Great if he starts including it again midway through SR, or even just for the ABs, but I’d actaully suggest that it was more the criticism that he was just a bully and actually got smashed himself when he took on people his own size that “affected him mentally”. We’ve actually seen him put in a few big hits but they’ve been on players who handled it so seen no highlight reels of them.
Go to commentsFrance using the 7-1, England using the 6-2, Ireland and Scotland have used it a few times as well and many nations are starting to adopt it. The reality is the game is changing. Administrators have made it faster and that is leading to more significant drop offs in the forwards. You have 2 options. Load your bench with forwards or alter your player conditioning which might mean more intense conditioning for forwards and a drop off in bulk. The game can still be played many ways. Every nation needs to adapt in their own way to suit their strengths. France have followed the Springbok model of tight forwards being preferred because it suits them. They have huge hunks of meat and the bench is as good as the starters so why not go for it? The Springboks have also used hybrids like Kwagga Smith, Schalk Britz, Deon Fourie, Franco Mostert and others. England are following that model instead and by putting 3 loosies there who can do damage in defence and make the breakdown a mess in the final quarter. It worked well against Wales but will be interested to see how it goes going forward against better opposition who can threaten their lineout and scrum. All the talk around bench limitations to stop the 7-1 and 6-2 for me is nonsense. Coaches who refuse to innovate want to keep the game the same and make it uniform and sameness is bad for fans. The bench composition adds jeopardy and is a huge debate point for fans who love it. Bench innovations have not made the game worse, they have made it better and more watchable. They challenge coaches and teams and that’s what fans want. What we need now is more coaches to innovate. There is still space for the 5-3 or even a 4-4 if a coach is willing to take it on and play expansive high tempo possession-based rugby with forwards who are lean and mean and backs who are good over the ball. The laws favour that style more than ever before. Ireland are too old to do it now. Every team needs to innovate to best suit their style and players so I hope coaches and pundits stop moaning about forwards and benches and start to find different ways to win.
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