Irakli Machkhaneli (born 18 June 1981) is a retired Georgian

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 who played as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

. He played in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for AS Béziers (2005/06-2006/07),

Stade Montois Stade Montois Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black. They are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the c ...

(2007/08),

SU Agen Sporting Union Agen Lot-et-Garonne (), commonly referred to as SU Agen, Agen () or SUALG, is a French professional rugby union club based in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne that competes in the Pro D2, France's second division of rugby. Founded in 1908, ...

(2008/09),

CA Saint-Étienne CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

(2009/10), in the

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 ...

, Mâcon (2010/11) and once again CA Saint-Étienne (2011/12-2012/13), in the

Fédérale 1 The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale (), a.k.a. Fédérale 1 (), is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Français ...

. He moved back to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, where he played for RC Armazi Tbilisi, in

Georgia Championship The Didi 10 (, "Big 10") is a professional domestic rugby union club competition in Georgia (country), Georgia. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Crocobet Didi 10. It is the top tier of rugby competition in the country. Current ...

, since 2013/14. It was with Armazi Tbilisi that he started is rugby union career, where he was noticed by the Georgian coach and was selected for the

2001–02 European Nations Cup First Division The 2001–02 Rugby Europe International Championships#European Nations Cup (2000–2016), European Nations Cup was the third edition of the newly reformed European championship. It was the first to be decided over two years. Since the format had ...

. He made his debut on 3 February 2002 against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He has 73 caps for

since 2002, with 23 tries scored, 115 points on aggregate. He is one of the two top tries scorers for the "Lelos". He was called for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup and was won by England national rugby union team, England. Originally planned to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispu ...

, where he played in all the four games, 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 ...

, playing in three games and scoring a try, 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 ...

, playing in two games. He is the current captain for the "Lelos". In 2014 he retired, with his last cap coming against

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

on 8 November 2014. Since then he has been assistant coach for the team, specializing with the backs.

References

External links

* 1981 births Living people Rugby union players from Tbilisi Rugby union players from Georgia (country) Rugby union wings Georgia international rugby union players 2003 Rugby World Cup players 2007 Rugby World Cup players 2011 Rugby World Cup players SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Stade Montois Rugby players AS Béziers Hérault players Expatriate rugby union players from Georgia (country) in France {{georgia-bio-stub