Time for Six Nations family to make most of Eastern promise

It probably escaped most people’s attention, but there was a pretty tasty rugby match in Sochi last Saturday.

You don’t need to know much about Eastern European history to realise that any sporting contest between Russia and Georgia comes packaged with an extra layer of frisson and this European Nations Cup meeting between the countries didn’t disappoint, with one flare-up and a handful of yellow cards handed out by young English referee. Georgia ultimately came away with a 24-7 win.

Unbeaten in this year’s tournament, they host a Romanian side that has yet to lose in this year’s competition at the 54,000 capacity Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena in Tbilisi tomorrow in a winner-takes-all encounter. Georgia bid for an eighth title in nine years. Their one failure in that time? Romania beat them in the 2010 final.