Georgian Second row?

[Chunky24]

Now I know my second row rumuors / guesses haven't always been great (got the Theo V exclusive from rfu disciplinary, started a big rumour of a South African second row from Montpellier as a result of Sunday morning musings)  but this from twitter on Lasha Jaini, played all nations cup games

https://twitter.com/luka_chiti/status/1341370369131819009?s=19

[HDAWG]

That's interesting, anyone know anything about him?

[Chunky24]

That's interesting, anyone know anything about him?

from Wikipedia which has his club as Wasps already

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasha_Jaiani

[Neils]

So should have a good grasp of English even if with a SW twang.

[RogerE]

Rowland replacement?

[Neils]

Doubt if an actual Rowland replacement more like an addition to the 2nd row squad. Maybe hoping Gaskell & Cardell will step into the Rowland position.

[Steve from Cov]

Interesting.

[HDAWG]

Doubt if an actual Rowland replacement more like an addition to the 2nd row squad. Maybe hoping Gaskell & Cardell will step into the Rowland position.

That sounds about right. Was hoping for more experience in next lock signing, but interesting regardless.

[baldpaul101]

Interesting. 22, 6 foot 6 tall 18 stone 2 pounds

Given Wasps have a lot of "lighter" locks I would have expected them to be looking for a bit of a monster (Rowlands is listed as 6.8 & 19 stone 5) so maybe more of a project than a direct replacement. I guess with professional S & C and Abbi's cooking he should fill out a bit more. If any of it is true of course 

[Shugs]

More likely a Myles Edwards replacement. Certainly looks like it's happening.

[will311293]

Seems he's the starting lock in that Exeter Uni team which is fairly tasty. Looks a good player to come in and cover the Edwards/Flament loss. Adds some size to the squad as well.

TBH i quite like this as a signing.

[MarleyWasp]

I've asked a friend who works for the Georgian Rugby Union about him. Feedback sounds promising.

He's a very intelligent player with a good Rugby brain and is rated as one of the best to come out of the recent Georgia U20 sides. He could have gone to France but chose to wait for an English offer as he felt the standard of coaching and development is higher here.

From a GRU perspective they want him at Wasps, more so than any other GP side, as they've been really impressed with how we've developed players over the years and that there are a few more players they wouldn't mind seeing at the club.

They say he may need to bulk up a bit and work on his speed but he has the potential to be another Will Rowlands.

My friend said that the Wikipedia change is premature but it looks likely to happen.

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I've asked a friend who works for the Georgian Rugby Union about him. Feedback sounds promising.

He's a very intelligent player with a good Rugby brain and is rated as one of the best to come out of the recent Georgia U20 sides. He could have gone to France but chose to wait for an English offer as he felt the standard of coaching and development is higher here.

From a GRU perspective they want him at Wasps, more so than any other GP side, as they've been really impressed with how we've developed players over the years and that there are a few more players they wouldn't mind seeing at the club.

They say he may need to bulk up a bit and work on his speed but he has the potential to be another Will Rowlands.

My friend said that the Wikipedia change is premature but it looks likely to happen.

That's quite a compliment. I'd rather we developed our own home grown talent, but having an extra source of young talent could be useful.

[MarleyWasp]

I don't get the impression we'll be taking in loads of Georgian players and that English players will be the academy priority, but you will see more Georgians in the Premiership in future and if Wasps are interested I get the impression we'll be first choice.

In this case, we don't have a second row in the academy and only six in the first team. Two of those six will be away for the 6 Nations, one is injury prone and the other three have a total of 28 first team Premiership and European games for Wasps between them (18 Cardall, 5 Douglas & Vukasinovic). Georgia aim to field more of a development side in the Rugby Europe Championship, and this season only 3 matches clash with Premiership games (final game of last season (Russia) and first two of this season), so they may be agreeable to letting him stay at Wasps throughout the 6 Nations window if their games are against two of Belgium/Netherlands/Romania/Portugal. Jaiani is highly talented and keen to join the club. I'd rather we go for him then an overpriced SA lock who thinks the Premiership will be easy and takes a year to settle.

[Mellie]

I'd rather we developed our own home grown talent, but having an extra source of young talent could be useful.

During the amateur era Wasps were brilliant at identifying and recruiting young talent to the club due to good contacts. This lead to a production line of players who were able to replace older players and develop into internationals.

The first game I went to at Sudbury in 1980 had 19 year old Nigel Melville playing for us then we saw Steve Bates, Mike Friday, Andy Gommarsall and Martin Wood emerge over time. We also recruited most of the backline and a couple of forwards from the most exciting Cambridge University team I ever saw.

So developing very young players, of which a few succeed, through the academy mixed with identifying young emerging talent before anyone else through active recruitment seems an ideal way forward.