Georgia's Kveseladze puts in unreal display to put Premiership on alert
If the Premiership Rugby Cup is there for emerging players to stake a claim to play in the Gallagher Premiership, then this season's tournament surely helped Gloucester centre Giorgi Kveseladze.
The Georgia star has not yet established himself as a regular starter for the Cherry and Whites since making his debut last year, but he put his hand up with his performance against Worcester Warriors yesterday.
Despite being on the losing side, the 24-year-old was instrumental in almost everything that Gloucester did well- directly creating two of their tries and creating an 'almost try' that was held up by Duhan van der Merwe.
For the 'almost try' he showed great strength in holding off two tacklers before getting away an offload:
Later in the first half, it was his blindside switch from a scrum followed by some tidy footwork that gave Gloucester great field position and momentum, which eventually led to a try to Jacob Morris:
Finally, it was his raw power from close range and quick recycling in the second half that left the Warriors' defence scrambling and provided the space for Alex Morgan to dot down:
He deserved to win on the back of that performance, but this was a display that could help him for the rest of the season.
Gloucester Rugby
15. Kyle Moyle
14. Alex Morgan *
13. Louis Hillman-Cooper *
12. Giorgi Kveseladze
11. Jacob Morris *
10. George Barton *
9. Stephen Varney *
1. Ciaran Knight *
2. Henry Walker *
3. Jamal Ford-Robinson
4. Arthur Clark *
5. Cameron Jordan *
6. Freddie Thomas *
7. Jack Clement *
8. Jack Bartlett *
Replacements
16. Seb Blake *
17. Olly Adkins *
18. Bryan O’Connor *
19. Rob Nixon *
20. Josh Gray *
21. Matty Jones *
22. Morgan Adderly-Jones *
23. Reece Dunn *
*Denotes Academy player or graduate from the Gloucester Rugby Academy.
Worcester Warriors
15 Noah Heward
14 Tom Howe
13 Alex Hearle
12 Seb Atkinson
11 Duhan van der Merwe
10 Fin Smith
9 Gareth Simpson
1 Ethan Waller (C),
2 Isaac Miller
3 Jack Owlett
4 James Scott
5 Andrew Kitchener
6 Jack Forsythe
7 Sam Lewis
8 Sione Vailanu
Replacements
16 Niall Annett
17 Kai Owen
18 Christian Judge
19 Graham Kitchener
20 Kyle Hatherell
21 Ollie Wynn
22 Jamie Shillcock
23 Francois Venter