International captain who stunned Wales banned for 11 years as scandal rocks rugby
Five of the side that won 13-12 in Cardiff in 2022 have been banned for breaking anti-doping rules
Merab Sharikadze, the rugby player who captained Georgia to their famous victory over Wales in 2022, has been banned for 11 years after violating anti-doping rules.
Sharikadze is one of six former Georgian internationals to have received a ban following a major joint-investigation between the World Anti-Doping Agency and World Rugby that uncovered a scheme involving alleged sample substitution and advance warnings of drug tests. The investigation, dubbed 'Operation Obsidian', was launched in 2023 and found five instances where players allegedly swapped urine samples to avoid detection.
Four of the other five players who have been banned - Giorgi Chkoidze, Lasha Khmaladze, Lasha Lomidze and Miriani Modebadze - also featured in the win over Wales in Cardiff four years ago.
Hooker Chkoidze has been handed a six-year ban, while Khmaladze, Modebadze and Otar Lashkhi have been banned for three years each.
Lomidze has been given a nine-month ban.
Georgia's former chief medical officer Nutsa Shamatava has also been banned for nine years.
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Last year, Sharikadze - who started in midfield against Wales in 2022 - claimed he was facing a lengthy ban from rugby for sample substitution in an interview as he sought to launch a new career in mixed martial arts.
“My sample, so to say, was used instead of other players’ samples,” Sharikadze told Setanta Sports Georgia.
The 13-12 defeat to Georgia in 2022 proved costly for then Wales head coach Wayne Pivac.
A week after that defeat, Wales collapsed against Australia in their final autumn fixture - with Pivac sacked as coach shortly after.
World Rugby, working with WADA, had originally announced that six Georgian players had been banned back in March.
The investigation was triggered when irregularities in urine samples were identified by World Rugby’s athlete passport management programme.
In their own statement, WADA president Witold Banka suggested there could be further sanctions to follow in Georgian sport. By way of follow-up, WADA has already extracted collected samples from other Georgian athletes in different sports.
“What has been happening in Georgian rugby is outrageous and will send shockwaves through Georgian sport and government, as well as the global game of rugby," said Banka. "I want to thank WADA’s independent Intelligence & Investigations team for their diligence and expertise in relentlessly pursuing this operation with determination and professionalism.
"I also praise World Rugby’s commitment to uncovering the facts and its willingness to work collaboratively with WADA to deliver this strong result for rugby.
“This is not the end of the story as further investigation is now going on deeper into Georgian sport. WADA has brought Operation Obsidian’s findings to the attention of the Government of Georgia to address the issues in the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency.
"As the next steps are being considered, clearly, WADA has lost confidence in GADA’s anti-doping program and wholesale changes must now be made by the relevant authorities.”