GEORGIA
LEVAN CHILACHAVA pulls back the resistance band like a catapult, then releases. It flies through the air and lands around the neck of Georgia team-mate Shalva Mamukashvili.
It’s pure fluke, evidenced by the expression of surprise on Chilachava’s face. The prop could try the same trick with the giant rubber band more commonly used for stretching exercises another 100 times and it’s unlikely he would find the target so precisely.
The prank raises a few smiles before Fatboy Slim’s Funk Soul Brother kicks in to mark the start of the Georgia forwards’ weights session, a moment of light-heartedness before the heavy lifting begins.
A large whiteboard on the wall sets targets for different exercises. The strength and conditioning team break down the colour-coded targets: if the weight a player manages to lift for a particular drill is in the red band that’s bad, orange is normal, green is good and black is world class. All the
