Georgia challenge 6N bottom side Wales to autumn Test

Georgia have invited Six Nations wooden-spoonists Wales to play a Test match in Tbilisi later this year.

Georgia's seventh successive Rugby Europe Championship title, which they clinched with victory over Portugal in Paris, has reignited a Six Nations promotion and relegation play-off debate among rugby supporters and pundits.

Wales finished bottom - losing all five of their Six Nations games - for the first time since 2003. Italy had propped up the table on eight successive occasions prior to this season.

And although they beat Georgia comfortably during last year's World Cup, Wales lost to them at the Principality Stadium 16 months ago.

Wales' 2024 autumn Test schedule has not yet been announced, although those fixtures are always played on home soil, rendering any trip to Tbilisi a likely non-starter.

In an audacious move, the Georgian Rugby Union said its national team, which is currently coached by former Leicester boss and England assistant Richard Cockerill, would be "equally happy" to play in Wales, making it a double-header that "would hugely excite supporters of both nations".

Georgian Rugby Union president Ioseb Tkemaladze said. "It's my great pleasure to invite our dear friends from Wales to play Georgia in Tbilisi this autumn.

"After a thrilling Six Nations and Georgia's seventh success in a row in the Rugby Europe Championship, it is the fixture rugby fans everywhere are crying out for, so I really hope the Welsh can take up our invitation.

"Of course, we would be equally happy to play them in Cardiff - where we won a famous victory in 2022. Maybe a double-header can be arranged.

"There is a strong connection between our two proud rugby nations, and we have had some exciting contests recently. We are rugby