The Shute Shield coaches who guided Georgia to a RWC … and got sacked!

By Jon Geddes

NOTHING could prepare Australian coaches Tim Lane and Damien Cummins for their extraordinary time in charge of the Georgian national rugby team.

The language barrier, a drunk bus driver and arteries of a pig’s heart were some of the challenges faced by the Aussie rugby disciples spreading the gospel in Georgia.

When former Wallabies assistant Lane was appointed Georgian head coach he recruited  Cummins to look after the forwards, with their brief to get the team into the  2011 World Cup.

As Los Lelos prepare to take on the Wallabies in their historic Test match on Saturday at Allianz Stadium, “Turtle” Cummins, proud recipient of the prestigious Georgian Medal of Honour, revealed some of their eye-opening experiences in 2009 and 2010.

CLOAK AND DAGGER ROOMS

FOR Cummins, a boy born and bred on Sydney’s northern beaches, life in the Georgian capital Tbilisi was as far removed from Manly’s famous Steyne Hotel as you could get.

“She was pretty wild,” said Cummins, currently assistant coach of the Manly Marlins.   

“There was one nightclub we would go to and there was a cloakroom and then after that was your guns and knives room.”

Cummins said the locals were lovely and very hospitable people, who made the Aussie expats feel very welcome in their homes.

“But they would make their own vodka and it wouldn’t matter what time of day it was, if you went to their place there would be a bottle of vodka on the table,” he said.

“They would cook you a hearty meal and sometimes you would be drinking this ethanol at 8am.”

It took a while getting used to that for breakfast – along with a broth of barley and assorted animal body parts, including the artery of pig’s heart.   

YOU THOUGHT COACHING THE  WALLABIES WAS TOUGH

LANE and Cummins also faced challenges on the field.        

“The language was really hard because they either spoke Georgian or French or Russian and then English,” Cummins said.

“There was a few of them who knew English and the captain was fluent in six languages.

“But it is always a barrier because everything in translation can get mixed up. It was a little bit awkward.” 

Another eye-opening shock came when the Georgian team did not play during their Test window.

“The weeks we had off, they wouldn’t pay for our accommodation,” Cummins said. “We had to pay for it ourselves.”

He and Lane also had a real issue getting Georgian players released from their French clubs.     

“They used to make it quite awkward,” Cummins said.

That problem was exacerbated because below the top 25 Georgian players, the standard really dropped off.

Then there was the time the Georgian team had to make a coach trip up to play Russia on the border between the two countries and the driver was six sheets to the wind.

“There he was blind drunk, driving a national rugby team around,” Cummins said.

THE STING IN THE TALE  

DESPITE the obstacles, the two Australians rose to the task.      

“Laney got the job to qualify them for the World Cup in 2011 in New Zealand,” Cummins said. “The qualifying was over two years and we were the first team in our region to get through.”

In recognition of their efforts the coaches were awarded the Georgian Medal of Honour, which still holds pride of place in Cummins’s home.

“It is like the key to the city,” he said.

“Then, as soon as that happened, they sacked us and brought in their own blokes.

“I think they shook our hands, said ‘congratulations, and by the way, you are sacked’.

“We got absolutely punted.”

THE TEST FACING AUSTRALIA  

CUMMINS said the frontrow was, and still is, the strength of Georgian rugby.

“I just think genetically that is what they are made for, to be honest,” Cummins said.

When he was coaching Georgia, Cummins had the foresight to suggest Australian Super teams should look at recruiting some Georgian props and hookers.

French rugby has reaped the rewards from signing Georgian frontrowers, where they make a huge impact.

“Some of their props are the highest paid players in France,” Cummins said.

He believes the Wallaby pack will face a real test from their physical Georgian rivals on Saturday.

“They beat Japan (25-23 last weekend in Tokyo) which is no mean feat, Japan are a pretty accomplished side now,” he said.

“I can’t see them winning the game by their attack,” he said. “I can see them giving the Wallabies a hard first 20 or 40 minutes up front.

“They (Wallabies) will be challenged that’s for sure, maybe not in the lineout so much, but in the scrum.”



error: Content is protected !!