NEVER BEFORE has such a remarkable journey come perfectly full circle.
When Nika Amashukeli’s father forced his football-loving 12-year-old to watch Georgia v Ireland at the RWC in 2007, he could not have predicted that his son would one day jump through the screen.
Georgia’s narrow 14-11 defeat in Bordeaux was the very first rugby game Amashukeli had watched and it inspired him to take up the sport shortly after.
A crash-ball centre, his playing career threatened to take off after making it into the Georgia age-grade sides. He was with the U17s during the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and from afar, he longed to be there one day.
Despite coming up against the likes of Maro Itoje and Billy Burns in his junior international career, a succession of injuries and head knocks put paid to that and he picked up the whistle. Eight years after his first senior international game as a referee, when Montenegro took on Estonia, Amashukeli made his World Cup bow.
