Former Georgia captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned from sport for 11 years for his part in a secret scheme which helped national team players cheat anti-doping tests.
Hooker Giorgi Chkoidze has been banned for six years, with Lasha Khmaladze, Otar Lashkhi and Miriani Modebadze receiving three-year suspensions, and Lasha Lomidze being banned for nine months.
Sharikadze, who led Georgia to a famous win over Wales in Cardiff in 2022, admitted providing ‘clean’ urine to team-mates.
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, and she would then share the information via a team group chat.
World Rugby, who flagged anomalies in samples from the team in the run-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, says it believes the sample substitution ploy was designed to conceal the use of recreational drugs.
The game’s governing body supplied historical samples which, when retested, showed five instances of sample substitution involving Sharikadze and five other players, dating back to 2019.
Sharikadze appeared in three of the Lelos’ pool games at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, while hooker Chkoidze dropped out of contention for the tournament just before its start, citing an injury picked up in a warm-up match.
Wing Modebadze started the team’s defeat by Australia in their tournament opener at Stade de France, before being replaced in the squad by Lashkhi on injury grounds.
Khmaladze started at full-back in the defeat by Wales in Nantes, while back row Lomidze, who had brief spells in England with London Irish and Doncaster, was not involved in the tournament.
Georgia finished bottom of their pool, drawing against Portugal and losing their other three matches.
Sharikadze, the most high-profile of the suspended players, ended his player career shortly after, aged 30, and switched careers to become an MMA fighter, winning his debut bout in November 2025.