Davit Niniashvili

Davit Niniashvili is Georgian rugby’s global calling card — the Lyon full-back who arrived in the Top 14 as a teenager and within a season had French commentators reaching for comparisons they normally reserve for home-grown prodigies. For WeTalkRugby’s audience he needs no introduction: he is the most-watched Lelo of his generation and the proof of concept for every Georgian kid who believes the pathway can lead somewhere.

The style is pure adventure. Niniashvili counter-attacks from positions coaches teach players to kick from, beats first defenders with either a swerve at pace or a fend that belongs to a back-rower, and treats the high ball as a personal duel he expects to win. French rugby fell for him precisely because he plays with the id of street football — but the numbers underneath are serious: line breaks, defenders beaten and try involvements that have kept him a Lyon starter in the world’s deepest league since his teens.

For Georgia he carries a different weight. The Lelos’ campaigns — including the 2026 wins over Uruguay, Samoa and Chile under new head coach Pierre-Henry Broncan that our database records — are built on forward power, and Niniashvili is the piece that makes opponents defend the whole field. Every strong European club season he produces is an argument in Georgia’s long campaign for meaningful fixtures against tier-one nations.

He made his Test debut in his teens and has since become the face of a golden Georgian backline generation alongside the likes of Akaki Tabutsadze.