{"id":6695,"date":"2026-01-23T20:13:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=6695"},"modified":"2026-01-23T20:13:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:13:52","slug":"nika-abuladze-georgia-prop-to-rejoin-exeter-from-montpellier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=6695","title":{"rendered":"Nika Abuladze: Georgia prop to rejoin Exeter from Montpellier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Georgia prop Nika Abuladze is to rejoin Exeter in the summer. <\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The 30-year-old left the Prem Rugby club in the summer of 2024 to join French side Montpellier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He has played 18 times for the Top 14 side as well as helping Georgia win last year&#8217;s Rugby Europe Championship. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Abuladze first moved to the Chiefs in March 2023 and went on to feature 16 times for the Devon club, as well as playing for his country at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I feel like I&#8217;ve accomplished everything I can with Montpellier and so I&#8217;m delighted to return to Exeter Chiefs,&#8221; Abuladze <a href=\"https:\/\/www.exeterchiefs.co.uk\/news\/georgian-powerhouse-abuladze-to-return-to-devon\" class=\"ssrcss-ckhpdl-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">told the club website.<span class=\"visually-hidden ssrcss-i2z2ig-VisuallyHidden e16en2lz0\">, <!-- -->external<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Devon was a place where I always felt happy and appreciated, which I know I will continue to be when I return.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Abuladze, who has won 22 caps for his country, was the first Georgian player to represent Exeter and has since been followed by compatriot Bachuki Tchumbadze.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;As we keep trying to build on the foundations we&#8217;re setting now, around how we want to play and strengthening the squad, Nika is a fantastic addition to that,&#8221; director of rugby Rob Baxter said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The scrum and specifically our front row is an area in which we feel we&#8217;re strong and one in which we can keep developing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;re glad to have him coming back. He was a very popular squad member in his previous stint, so I&#8217;m sure he&#8217;ll fit straight back in, working with Ross McMillan and Glen Townson to really help drive our pack of forwards. He&#8217;ll hopefully help us in our aim to return to winning trophies in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Georgia prop Nika Abuladze is to rejoin Exeter in the summer. The 30-year-old left the Prem Rugby club in the summer of 2024 to join French side Montpellier. He has played 18 times for the Top 14 side as well as helping Georgia win last year&#8217;s Rugby Europe Championship. Abuladze first moved to the Chiefs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}