South Africa President's XV Crowned IRB Tbilisi Cup Champions

The South African President’s XV have been crowned inaugural IRB Tbilisi Cup champions after a 21-16 victory against hosts Georgia in the deciding match.

With both teams entering the final day of competition undefeated, the clash between the form sides was a mouth-watering prospect.

The match did not disappoint as a capacity crowd were treated to an epic and competitive contest which saw the home side come close.

The President’s XV led from the start thanks to the boot of Carl Bezuidenhout, but with the Georgia pack in bullish mood, the home side took the lead in the 25th minute with a fine try from a rolling maul, finished by prop Levan Chilachava.

However, the South Africans finished the half 13-16 ahead after another Bezuidenhout penalty and a stunning try by left wing Rosco Speckman.

Georgia hit back after the interval as Tsiklauri leveled the scores with a penalty, but the President’s XV recaptured the lead through Van Der Walt’s try on the stroke of the 60 minutes to force them, which proved enough to secure the victory.

In the other match Emerging Ireland and Uruguay delivered a try-fest with the Irish winning 42-33 to leapfrog Georgia and end the tournament in a fine second place.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "The IRB Tbilisi Cup has been a resounding success for the IRB, for the host nation and for Tier 2 Rugby. I would like to thank the Georgians for hosting an exceptional event and all the participating teams for truly bringing the competition to life."

"South Africa President’s XV are deserved champions, but Rugby is the winner and the highly competitive matches will see all teams take massive positives out of the event."

A full report will shortly be available at www.irb.com.

Meanwhile, a full house is expected at the Arcul de Triumf in Bucharest tonight for the winner-takes-all clash between hosts and reigning champions Romania and Emerging Italy, which will bring the curtain down on another successful IRB Nations Cup.

The Two teams have matched each other’s results in the opening two rounds of the competition and head into tonight’s match (19:00 local time) on eight points with similar points differential. Argentina Jaguars take on Russia in the second match (21:00) with pride the major prize for the victors. Neither team has recorded a win in the 2013 event and for Russia, a strong finish will provide a significant boost ahead of a return to Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifying.

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