USA – Georgia

USA will host Georgia on Saturday night in an International rugby test, with the Georgians rated as 1.50 odds favorites by the bookies to take home the win.

USA is coming after a 19-55 home loss to Ireland, a match in which USA put on a decent showing, but didn`t stand a chance against the European giants. Prior to the Ireland match, USA won the Americas Rugby Championship in dramatic fashion, after a last second try in the last match allowed them to get a 27-27 draw against Argentina B. It was a great result for Team USA and a validation of their recent efforts to improve as a rugby nation.

Georgia defeated Canada 13-0 in Calgary last week, putting on a dominant performance in a match they could have easily won by 20+ points. Canada did miss a few players, but it was a good bounce back performance from Georgia after they narrowly lost the Rugby Europe Championship at the hands of Romania a couple of months ago. The visitors will feel they should get another win in this match against team USA – especially as they get a few key players back in the lineup.

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Team news & lineups:

USA gets back captain Todd Clever, but will lose some power due to shuffling the team a bit after their tough match with Ireland. Georgia welcomes two key players which were not available for the match against Canada.

USA: 15 Mike Te’o, 14 Matai Leuta, 13 Bryce Campbell, 12 AJ MacGinty, 11 Nate Augspurger, 10 Will Magie, 9 Shaun Davies, 8 Cam Dolan, 7 Tony Lamborn, 6 Todd Clever (c), 5 Ben Landry, 4 Nate Brakeley, 3 Chris Baumann, 2 James Hilterbrand, 1 Tony Purpura

Georgia: 15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Giorgi Koshadze, 13 David Kacharava, 12 Merab Sharikadze (c), 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Khmaladze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Vito Kolelishvili, 6 Lasha Lomidze, 5 Kote Mikautadze, 4 Giorgi Nemsadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili

USA will find it hard to take on a physical Georgian team after having to invest massive effort to play Ireland last week. Such games take a lot from a Tier 2 team like the USA, and chances are they will not be at their best here in terms of stamina and fitness. Against a strong, powerful team like Georgia, this could be a huge deal breaker for the hosts.

Credit to team USA for showing slow progress in recent years, but they are still not up to the standards of a team like Georgia. The Georgians are simply a superior outfit, they are used to the time zone and conditions after already playing Canada last week, and USA is coming after a grueling match with Ireland.

Goergia should dominate this match with their power and win rather comfortably, so I find that a bet on their victory makes a lot of sense. My tip is Georgia to win. Prediction: USA – Georgia 18 – 28.

Pick: Georgia
Odds: 1.53 @ Bwin
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 4.24
Event date: 17 June