Irakli Abuseridze ( ka, ირაკლი აბუსერიძე, ; born November 25, 1977, in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

) is a Georgian former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. He played as a scrum-half. Abuseridze is the third the most

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

player of all time for the

Georgia national rugby union team The Georgia national rugby union team, nicknamed The Lelos, is administered by the Georgia Rugby Union, Georgian Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Rugby Europe International Championships, Rugby Europe Championship, and the Rugby W ...

Career

Abuseridze made his international debut for Georgia aged 22 against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

XV in 2000. He has gone on to become a stalwart of the national team and played in all three of Georgia's World Cup appearances in 2003, 2007 and 2011, and has captained the side since 2008 taking over from

Ilia Zedginidze Ilia Zedginidze ( ka, ილია ზედგინიძე; born 20 January 1977) is a Georgian former rugby union player. He played as a lock (rugby union), number 8, and flanker (rugby union) and was a lineout specialist. A member of their ...

. At club level Abuseridze played with

Aurillac Aurillac (; ) is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France. Geography Aurillac is at above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin. The city is b ...

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

for three years between 2003 and 2006, reaching the Pro De semi finals with them in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. He moved down to Fédérale 1 to play for another three years with

Orléans Orléans (,"Orleans"
(US) and Fédérale 2 Fédérale 2 is a rugby union club championship division in France. It is the sixth division of rugby above Fédérale 3. Teams can earn promotion to Fédérale 1, and subsequently, to the National 2 and Nationale leagues, and on to the profes ...

with Auxerre as a player/coach. He finished his career at the end of the 2012/13 season. At national level Abuseridze was the first ever Georgian to reach 80 caps and held the record for most caps for Georgia with 85 before

Merab Kvirikashvili Merab "Meko" Kvirikashvili (born 27 December 1983) is a Georgian rugby union player. He started his career as a scrum-half but now plays as a fly-half and occasional fullback and is the all-time leading points scorer for the Georgia national ru ...

superseded him. He is the third most capped player of all time outside the Tier 1 nations. He scored 8 tries, 40 points on aggregate. He was called for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

and the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

References

Irakli Abuseridze statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abuseridze, Irakli 1977 births Living people Rugby union players from Georgia (country) Rugby union scrum-halves Expatriate rugby union players from Georgia (country) in France Georgia international rugby union players Rugby union players from Tbilisi 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players RC Orléans players