Georgia coach sends big play-off message to Six Nations bosses

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SPOTLIGHT: Richard Cockerill believes it would be "logical" for Georgia to be given the opportunity to play Wales for a place in the 2026 Six Nations.

Georgia wrapped up their eighth consecutive Rugby Europe Championship title with a 46-28 defeat of Spain in Sunday's Final in Tbilisi and head coach Cockerill conceded his side had become "a little bit too strong" for the second-tier tournament.

Wales, on the other hand, are in the midst of a 17-Test losing run and slumped to a second successive Six Nations wooden spoon on the back of a record 14-68 home defeat to England on Saturday.

They have not won a Test match since beating Georgia at Rugby World Cup 2023. The Lelos recorded their first victory in the fixture in Cardiff in 2022 and Cockerill believes a play-off between the two would prove popular with fans.

"If you are finishing bottom of the Six Nations why do you just get free rein to turn up next year and play?" Cockerill told BBC Radio Wales.

"We want the opportunity to prove that we can compete, so surely that's logical we get the opportunity to have a play-off.

"It would be the richest game in world rugby – Georgia versus Wales at some point in the near future to see who plays in the Six Nations for the next tournament.

"That's jeopardy, isn't it? That would be a game people would want to watch."

He added: "We need to go and get challenged and we need to lose games. We need to lose games to know what it feels like to play at the level the Six Nations is at, as Italy had that opportunity in the early 2000s.

"We feel we've earned the right, not to be given that place, we want the opportunity to prove that potentially we're good enough to compete on a regular basis at that level."

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Cockerill, however, admitted the prospect of such a match was remote.

"If you're in the Six Nations you wouldn't want to be voting for that type of play-off, would you?" he added.

"Because it might be you, and the ramifications of not being in the Six Nations, from a rugby point of view but also from a financial point of view, would be very, very difficult."

Sunday's Rugby Europe Championship victory was Georgia's second under Cockerill since the former Leicester boss became head coach at the start of last year.

He has also previously coached Edinburgh and was part of Eddie Jones' England set-up but distanced himself from the vacant Wales job, suggesting the successful candidate faces a tough task to return the team to the top end of the Six Nations.

"I think the Welsh job would be attractive for anybody," said Cockerill.

"It's a fantastic country with a fantastic history, a country that loves its rugby.

"But whoever comes in next has got to be given time from top to bottom to develop the players that Wales need to be competitive because I think you look at the moment at players available for Wales, are they really good enough to be competing and being competitive in the Six Nations?

"I think honestly, and with all respect to everybody, I just think that they haven't quite got the quality at this point.

"They may grow into it with a lot of young players being in and around the squad, but they're not quite good enough at the moment so whoever comes in is going to need time – and we know in professional sport the one thing you don't get… is the opportunity to build a squad and settle in and build it from the ground up, which at the moment is probably where Wales is at."

By Martyn Thomas, @RugbyPass