Vasil Kakovin (born 1 December 1989) is a

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 ...

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. His position is

prop A prop, formally known as a (theatrical) property, is an object actors use on stage or screen during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...

, and he currently plays for

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

. He began his career in France with

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze, Corrèze department. Brive is a historical member of French rugby un ...

before moving to

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

in 2012. He played for Georgia in 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 ...

Career

Early career

Kakovin started his career with Georgia as back rower, as a 17-year-old he played either

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

or number 8 in the Under 19 World Cup for Georgia. A year later in 2008, he played in the inaugural Junior World Rugby Trophy as a versatile front rower, starting at either hooker or

. Soon after Junior World Rugby Trophy, Kakovin won his first cap for

before his 19th birthday against Scotland A in November 2008, and holds the record for youngest ever Georgian prop on debut, and is one of just seven other front rowers to be capped as 18-year-olds although his early call up was mainly due to the unavailability of a large number of players in his position. He featured again in another weakened Georgian side in the

2009 Churchill Cup The 2009 Churchill Cup took place between June 6 and June 21, 2009, marking the seventh year of the Churchill Cup. For the first time in the tournament's history, all rounds were held in the United States. This was done in an effort to reduce the ...

that lost all its matches, however the scrum was one impressive area and the 19-year-old Kakovin playing at prop impressed and came out of the series well. The youngster continued to be part of the Georgian squad when the plethora of props playing in the French top divisions were unavailable, after the

2010 IRB Nations Cup The 2010 IRB Nations Cup was the fifth edition of the international rugby union tournament, a competition created by the International Rugby Board. It pits the "A" Teams of the stronger (Tier 1) rugby nations (Argentina Jaguars, Italy A and Scot ...

he signed with Top 14 side

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglome ...

, it was as this point where he stopped playing hooker and focused on being a specialist prop.

Rise through the ranks

As he was still very young for a prop just aged 20, Kakovin was expected just to play mainly with the Espoirs (the academy/reserve side) in his first season at Brive, but he managed to play 20 matches throughout his first season, mainly as an impact sub from the bench, just starting four of those matches. Despite missing out on selection for Georgia's matches in November 2010 as they had managed for a rare occasion a more full strength team, he returned to the side in June 2011 in an experimental side in preparation for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, and managed to rise above Goderdzi Shvelidze and Anton Peikrishvili to become second choice Georgian loosehead prop behind his teammate at Brive

Davit Khinchagishvili David Khinchaguishvili ( ka, დავით ხინჩაგიშვილი) (born 24 July 1982) is a Georgian rugby union footballer. He previously played in the Top 14 for Aviron Bayonnais. He also previously played for CS Bourgoin-Jall ...

, and managed selection for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand. He did not feature in the first two matches, but after a great cameo from the bench against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

where he added some real dynamic ball carrying for Georgia towards the end of the match, for the Georgia's last match of the tournament against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

he replaced

who had a sub par match against the Romanians, and became Georgia's number one loosehead.

Breakthrough season

He carried his good form into the

, and in his first match back from the World Cup, he notably destroyed the most capped French prop of all time

Sylvain Marconnet Sylvain Marconnet (born 8 April 1976) is a French rugby union footballer who played for Biarritz Olympique having signed from Stade Français in the Top 14 club competition in France. His usual position is prop. Marconnet has played for France, ...

, as Brive routed

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

32–7 at home. Marconnet who was subbed at half time due to the Georgian's dominance over him called Kakovin "a phenomenon" after the match. As well as with Georgia, Kakovin went past Khinchagishvili as Brive's first choice prop, and later he was named in the

Midi Olympique ' is a French bi-weekly newspaper specializing in rugby and belonging to La Dépêche du Midi group. Its headquarters are based in Toulouse while some offices are located in Paris. The first edition was published on 2 September 1929, meaning it ...

team of the first half of the season, the newspaper described him as a "little bull" who was "very mobile, dynamic with ball in hand, and also excels at the scrum area". His success meant that several much bigger teams than Brive were hunting his signature, in the end the four times European Champions

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

beat off competition from Clermont,

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

and Racing-Métro, and signed him to replace the retiring South African international

Daan Human Daniel Cornelius Francois Human (born 3 April 1976) is the current Forwards Coach of the South Africa national rugby union team. He is a former rugby union player who last played for Toulouse in the Top 14 competition. He played as a prop. He h ...

at the club. On 15 May 2020, Kakovin would sign for

rivals

Stade Francais Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the west of Hamburg and b ...

ahead of the 2020–21 season.

References

External links

*
lequipe.fr profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kakovin, Vasil 1989 births Living people Rugby union players from Georgia (country) Stade Toulousain players Rugby union props Expatriate rugby union players from Georgia (country) in France Sportspeople from Imereti Georgia international rugby union players 2011 Rugby World Cup players Racing 92 players Stade Français Paris players CA Brive players