New team ready to replace Welsh side in URC as coach questions timing of scandal

There is set to be a vacancy in the URC as the Welsh Rugby Union moves to cut one of Wales’ professional sides

Georgia’s interim head coach Marco Bortolami says they are ready to either join an expanded Six Nations or provide a team to be included in the United Rugby Championship, despite losing their European second-tier crown to Portugal.

The Lelos have dominated the second-division Rugby Europe Championship (REC) over the last two decades, winning every edition but two between 2006 and 2025. Having also recorded scalps against Wales and Italy in recent times, they went into Sunday’s REC final against Portugal looking for a ninth successive title, but fell to a shock 19-17 defeat.

The result was one of the most surprising in recent European rugby history and marked a first Portuguese win over a Georgian side in 21 years, with the Lelos finally dethroned after holding a near decade-long grip on the competition.

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It also came just 48 hours after Georgian rugby was rocked by a major anti-doping investigation, with a joint probe by World Anti-Doping Agency and World Rugby finding that six Georgia players and a member of support staff had violated anti-doping rules

Authorities revealed there had been five cases of sample substitution between 2019 and 2023, a serious offence classified as tampering under anti-doping regulations. However, the full disciplinary process has yet to be completed.

Speaking to AFP, Bortolami – who has taken temporary charge of Georgia following Richard Cockerill’s departure in December – said it was “quite strange” that the “old” doping story had made headlines just before the REC final, admitting that the noise it created was less than ideal for his side’s preparations.

“Definitely, it was an outside noise that wasn’t ideal,” he said. “I would question the timing of that, and it’s an old story.

“It’s something that happened three years ago and I’m sure that whoever made the mistakes, they’re going to pay for that. So, it was quite strange, to be fair, to see that amount of noise just two days before a big game.”

Despite setbacks on and off the field, however, Bortolami says Georgian rugby is ready to take another step forward, with club side Black Lion prepared to join the URC if invited.

With the Welsh Rugby Union pushing ahead with plans to cut one of Wales’ four professional sides – all of which play in the URC – there is set to be an opening in the league in the not too distant future.

URC bosses are said to be keen to retain a 16-team competition, with Black Lion reportedly already lined up to fill the gap left by any axed Welsh side. They are not the only team interested, however, with South African side Cheetahs also publicly stating they would love to join the league after moves to draft in an American club were shut down.

But Bortolami – who will become Georgia’s forwards coach when Brive boss Pierre-Henry Broncon takes over the reins as head coach this summer – says that Black Lion are ready to step into the URC if asked.

“There’s the funding, there’s the agreements, we fulfilled every single requirement, every single request that the URC has made,” he said. “Now it’s just, someone has to make that decision.”

“That’s an opportunity. Obviously, geography doesn’t help because we are not as close as maybe some other countries to the URC countries, but the South African teams joined the URC a few years ago, so everything is manageable.”

However, Bortolami was less hopeful about Georgia’s chances of joining the Six Nations, a move that those in the country have increasingly called for in recent years amid their second-tier dominance and the decline of Welsh rugby.

With Wales going three years without a win in the Six Nations until Saturday’s victory over Italy, the Lelos have previously challenged them to an unofficial ‘play-off’ match to prove that they deserve their place in European rugby’s top Test competition.

Former boss Cockerill said Georgia had “earned the right” to challenge Wales for a place in the tournament, but Bortolami admitted that it would be “even more difficult” for the national side to be added to the Six Nations than Black Lion joining the URC.

“I’m very realistic about this topic because the Six Nations is a closed tournament and there’s some financial reasons why not only the bottom teams but also the top teams don’t want to run the risk of promotion and relegation,” he said.

“A realistic opportunity for Georgia to join the Six Nations is maybe to join with another team. [But] if it’s difficult for Black Lion to join the URC, I think it’s even more difficult for Georgia to get involved in the Six Nations.”

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