The Catalan club has agreed with Georgian Gela Aprasidze for the next two seasons. Champion of France in 2022 with Montpellier, he had been in Bayonne for a year.
A Georgian, Jiff, champion of France, and revenger. USAP has finally found its scrum half, a position that was targeted to be reinforced next season. After suffering the refusal of the Australian Federation to release international Jake Gordon, Franck Azéma and his leaders looked at different profiles. On the list, the names of Baptiste Germain (Toulouse), Leo Coly (Montpellier) were surveyed, but it is ultimately the Bayonnais Gela Aprasidze who will join the Catalan club with a two-year contract.
Georgian, but Jiff, because he was post-trained in Montpellier, Gela Aprasidze (1.75 m for 76 kg) has a mixed profile between Tom Ecochard, whose size he shares, and Sadek Deghmache, whose explosiveness and qualities he is similar to. physical. Arriving in Montpellier in 2017, among the hopefuls, he played his first matches with the pros that year. He remained there until the summer of 2023, mainly in a substitute role. He notably won, with the Hérault club, the Top 14 2022 by participating in the final phase campaign.
A member of the Georgia national team, he has already participated in two World Cups, in 2019 in Japan and in 2023 in France. Recruited at the start of the season in Bayonne, he was content with replacement status, with 15 matches played. Released from his contract, he joined Perpignan to strengthen a hinge composed of Tom Ecochard, who is coming off a full season, Sadek Deghmache, injured in the knee, who will miss the restart and the young captain of the hopes, Lenny Viola.
