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Qualifying for the World Cup in New Zealand is an important milestone for rugby in Georgia, according to assistant coach Ilia Maisuradze.
He made a fleeting visit to Dunedin yesterday as part of a whirlwind tour of the cities in which Georgia be based during next year's Cup.
Georgia will be in Dunedin for 11 days in September and is one of six international teams that will be based in the city.
Officials from England and Ireland have already each made two visits to Dunedin and there has been one visit from Scottish officials. Italian representatives will visit later this month. Romania is the other international team to play in the city.
The Georgia squad, nicknamed the Lelos, will spend the longest time in Dunedin and the Dunedin City Council is working hard to get a locally-based fan club to support the team.
Maisuradze was given a tour of the facilities at Forsyth Barr Stadium and also met city dignitaries before flying to Christchurch, Masterton and Palmerston North.
"We are a developing country and want to take our place in world rugby," he said.
This is the third time Georgia, which is ranked 16th in the world, has qualified for the World Cup.
Maisuradze was a flanker in the Georgian team in 2007. He was in the national squad for 10 years, playing 22 tests. He gained valuable experience playing semi-professional rugby in France.
Rugby was first played in Georgia after World War 2 and it became firmly established as a sport in the 1950s. There are 4200 rugby players in Georgia.
The Georgia Rugby Union was founded in 1964, but until the late 1980s it was part of the Soviet Union's rugby federation.
Georgia was part of the Soviet Union until the break-up of communism and it did not have its own national team.
During that time Georgia played in the Soviet Union championship and its top team won the championship three times.
Georgia became an independent country in 1991 and its national team plays in the European Nations Cup against Romania, Portugal, Spain, Russia and Germany.
"It is always a struggle between us and Romania," Maisuradze said.
"Romania won last year but Georgia won the championship for the three years before that and we also won in 2001."
Fourteen members of the Georgia national squad play professional rugby in France and other players are semi-professionals.
"We have about 100 rugby players in France," Maisuradze said.
"A few of our top players also play in England and Italy."
Georgia will open Dunedin's World Cup programme when it plays Scotland on Wednesday, September 14 at 7.30pm. It could be the first international match played in the Forsyth Barr Stadium.