3. Dato Okriashvili

Dato Okriashvili's bio

Dato Okriashvili Life and Career Highlights.

If Dato Okriashvili is known for one thing besides his prowess on the rugby field, it’s for being the big friendly giant around town. But if you ever face him on the rugby pitch, don’t let this deceive you. Standing at 1.79 m tall and built from 125 kg of pure Georgian muscle, Dato is a dominating right prop who brings formidable power to the scrum.

Despite being a late starter (he didn’t start playing rugby until 15 years of age), it didn’t take long for the young Georgian to shine. Combining his natural talent with his unrelenting work ethic, Dato quickly rose through the ranks and, after just a few short years, he was competing in his country’s top division.

Kickstarting his professional career, Dato then a full five years competing in his country’s top-tier division, the Didi 10. Here, he spent his time with the semi-professional Rugby Club Jiki Gori as a contract player before finally setting off for France in 2015.

Once in France, Dato spent his first season (2015 – 2016) in France’s world-renowned Burgundy region after signing a contract with AS Mâcon Rugby. From there he then spent two seasons at Stade Rodez Aveyron (2016 – 2018), then Stade Olympique Chambéry (2018 – 2019), and then Rugby Club Savoie Rumilly (2019 – 2020).

Most recently, Dato was recruited by the Sarlat Rugby Team based in Sarlat-la-Canéda, France where, in addition to playing as a right prop, he now leads local sponsorship development for the club.

Sarlat Rugby recently finished its first season without a single loss since the club’s founding back in 1903, with a perfect 22 wins for 22 games played. The addition of players like Lucas Caneda, Hemani Paea, Ikapote Fono and Dato Okriashvili has turned a team that used to used to play the bottom brackets into a contender qualified for the French Federal 2 championship finals and a brand that has secured a global following, with new fans hailing from every corner of the world.

This performance on the field has attracted the attention of big sports brands like Samurai. Based just across the channel in the U.K., Samurai Sportswear is a leading international kit supplier to sporting clubs from Australia and New Zealand to the English Premiership Rugby division. And, in it has been doing so for the last 25 years. And, in 2021, Samurai came onboard as Sarlat Rugby Team’s new kit supplier.

When word that Samurai Sportswear would potentially become the new kit sponsor for the team first spread, there was more than a little enthusiasm from some of the players. The current kit at the time left quite a lot to be desired. And, while not everyone knew who Samurai was at first, many players did.