Former Georgia Rugby Captain and Five Players Receive Bans for Urine Substitution Scheme

Former Georgia rugby captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned from sport for 11 years for violating anti-doping rules after admitting he provided 'clean' urine to teammates. Hooker Giorgi Chkoidze received a six-year ban, while Lasha Khmaladze, Otar Lashkhi and Miriani Modebadze were each banned for three years. Lasha Lomidze was banned for nine months.

A World Anti-Doping Agency investigation found that Georgia's national testing authority would tip off Georgia's team doctor Nutsa Shamatava about forthcoming tests. Nutsa Shamatava would share the information via a team group chat. World Rugby, which flagged anomalies in samples from the Georgia team in the run-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, believes the sample substitution ploy was designed to conceal the use of recreational drugs.

World Rugby supplied historical samples which, when retested, showed five instances of sample substitution involving Sharikadze and five other players. The five instances of sample substitution date back to 2019. Sharikadze, who led Georgia to a win over Wales in Cardiff in 2022, appeared in three of Georgia's pool games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Giorgi Chkoidze dropped out of contention for the 2023 Rugby World Cup just before its start, citing an injury picked up in a warm-up match. Miriani Modebadze started Georgia's 2023 Rugby World Cup opening match against Australia at Stade de France before being replaced in the squad by Otar Lashkhi on injury grounds.

Lasha Khmaladze started at full-back in Georgia's 2023 Rugby World Cup match against Wales in Nantes.

Lasha Lomidze, who had brief spells in England with London Irish and Doncaster, was not involved in the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Georgia finished bottom of their pool, drawing against Portugal and losing their other three matches. Sharikadze ended his rugby player career shortly after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, aged 30, and became an MMA fighter.