OSPREYS: Who are Black Lion? The Georgian side waiting for the Ospreys in Tbilisi

The Ospreys’ first opponents in Europe this season are a side Welsh rugby fans will remember for one night in Llanelli.

Black Lion won 23-7 at Parc y Scarlets in December 2023. It was their first Challenge Cup win, in their first season in the competition.

They were the first Georgian side to play in the tournament. This afternoon (1pm), the Ospreys face them in Tbilisi for the first time.

The spine of the Lelos

Black Lion were set up in 2021 to give Georgia’s best home-based players a professional side.

Their squad is made up entirely of players who play in the Georgian league or aren’t attached to clubs abroad. That makes them the backbone of the national team, the Lelos.

They dominated the Rugby Europe Super Cup, winning every edition they entered. They then stepped away from it to explore a possible move into the United Rugby Championship.

They still play in the Challenge Cup as an invited side.

Scarlets, Vannes and Montauban

The Scarlets win wasn’t a one-off.

A year later, they beat Vannes 22-19 in Tbilisi. Vannes are in the Ospreys’ pool this season.

In January this year, they won 31-28 away to Montauban at the Stade Sapiac.

“We’ve seen them get victories over Montauban and Scarlets in recent years, we’ve looked at their form and they’re a good team,” Ospreys first team coach Richard Kelly said.

A huge scrum and a driving line-out

Georgian rugby is built on its forwards, and Kelly expects the game to be won up front.

“The way Black Lion are, they’ve got a huge set-piece on their scrum, their driving line-out. They’ve got some very experienced coaches,” he said.

Fly-half Lawson Creighton is expecting the same.

“I haven’t played out there. I know a lot of boys haven’t played out there. So, we’re just going to go over there and expect a real tough game,” he said.

“We know they’re going to be physical and right up for the set-piece battle. So, I think we definitely have to be front up there physically.”

Openside flanker Giorgi Tsutskiridze leads a relentless defence. He finished near the top of the Challenge Cup tackle charts last season.

Danger out wide, too

They’re not just a pack. Luka Matkava runs the show at fly-half, for Black Lion and for Georgia.

Luka Tsirekidze, who can play full-back, wing or fly-half, was one of the competition’s most elusive runners last season. He beat 16 defenders and slipped 55% of the tackles he faced.

But they leak tries

There is hope for the Ospreys. Black Lion have conceded four or more tries in each of their last seven Challenge Cup matches.

That will encourage a side who want to play at tempo under Mark Jones.

Pool 3

Black Lion are in Pool 3 with the Ospreys, Edinburgh, Harlequins, Toulon and Vannes.

Jones has made 14 changes from the side that won the derby, with Owen Watkin back to captain the Ospreys and Lewis Edwards making his debut at full-back.

With Kieran Hardy facing months out and needing knee surgery, Reuben Morgan-Williams starts at scrum-half.