International Career
Kvirikashvili made his Georgia debut as a teenager in 2003 against Portugal, and made the squad for Georgia's first ever appearance in a World Cup later that year, playing in all four of Georgia's matches from the bench.
However he failed to establish himself in the Georgian side over the next couple of years, with Irakli Abuseridze and Bidzina Samkharadze both ahead of him for selection in the scrum half position. But in 2007 he switched to fly half and in his first start for his country in the position Georgia beat Romania away in Bucharest, he has since remained a regular member of the Georgian side ever since.
He was an important player in Georgia's 2007 World Cup campaign, starting all four matches and he showed good form against Ireland as Georgia narrowly lost 14-10 and was named man of the match in Georgia's first ever World Cup win against Namibia.
After the 2007 World Cup Kvirikashvili was moved to full back to accommodate a new fly half Lasha Malaghuradze. In 2010 he broke a record he previously shared with Paliko Jimsheladze for most points scored for Georgia in a match, with 32 points in Georgia's 77-3 thrashing of Germany. Later that year he also kicked a last minute conversion for Georgia to defeat the USA 19-17 in Tblisi.
After Malaghuradze suffered an injury and then a loss of form, Kvirikashvili returned to the first choice fly half position in 2011 helping Georgia to an undefeated season in the European Nations Cup.
However his fortunes were more mixed during the World Cup later that year as he failed to replicate the good form he showed in the 2007 tournament. Notably against England, Georgia were competing well but Kvirikashvili failed to capitalise on England's indiscipline and the Georgian forwards hard work and missed five penalties which would have put Georgia in a very competitive position in the match. He recovered to a better performance scoring 17 points in the win against Romania in the next match, but was dropped for the final match with Argentina.
Kvirikashvili returned to the starting position in 2012 though and started every game for Georgia that year, and with some better kicking performances he broke the Georgian record for most points scored in a calendar year.
Read more about this topic: Merab Kvirikashvili
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