Davit Niniashvili (born 14 July 2002) is a Georgian rugby union player. He plays as a winger for

Lyon OU Lyon Olympique Universitaire or LOU is a French rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 2016–17 season af ...

; in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

, in France. Niniashvili also plays full-back for the Georgian National Team He participated in the 2019 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship organised in Kaliningrad. He started in the final, which was won by Georgia. Although only evolving in the regional league, being 18 years old and having no high-level experience, he was selected by

Levan Maisashvili Levan Maisashvili is a Georgian professional rugby union coach. He is currently the head coach of the Georgia national team and the side that participates in the Currie Cup. While coach of the Georgian national team during the 2021 July rugby un ...

to participate in the

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of ...

. His coach presents him as "a promising player with good skills". He wants to "increase the depth t the rear post. Davit Niniashvili was named in the starting line-up for the first time at 2020 Rugby Europe Championship against Russia. He scored his first international try against Russia at 2021 Rugby Europe Championship In 2021, he signed a three-year contract with

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

. He made his debut in the Top 14 on September 18, 2021 against Perpignan. Niniashvili played a crucial role in Lyon's success, helping the team win the Challenge Cup, their first European title in history. His impressive performances caught the attention of the rugby world, and he was included in the Barbarians squad to face England in June 2022, despite having only 11 test caps at the time. With his talent and potential, Niniashvili is expected to have a bright future in both club and international rugby. In September 2023, Niniashvili was named in Georgia's

2023 Rugby World Cup The 2023 Rugby World Cup is scheduled to be the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the cou ...

squad. He started all four games, scoring a try against Wales.

List of winners

Winner of the European Rugby Championship for Under 18s in 2019
Winner of the European Rugby Championship in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024
Winner of the 2021–22 EPCR Challenge Cup with Lyon OU

Honours

Personal *Midi Olympique's Oscars Midol 2023

References

2002 births Living people Rugby union players from Georgia (country) Lyon OU Rugby players Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union wings Rugby union players from Tbilisi 2023 Rugby World Cup players Expatriate rugby union players from Georgia (country) in France Georgia international rugby union players 21st-century sportsmen from Georgia (country) {{Georgia-rugbyunion-bio-stub