These are your evening rugby headlines on Monday, April 14 Georgia move to join URC as Wales ignore challenge Georgia have begun talks over their domestic side Black Lion joining the United Rugby Championship, with the country's rugby chiefs saying the move comes with the "full support" of World Rugby. After beating the likes of Wales, Italy and Japan in recent years, the Georgians have continually pushed for greater inclusion at the top of the international game, namely by joining the Six Nations as part of an expanded tournament. However, they have now turned their focus to the domestic game and are looking for Black Lion to join the URC - which currently features teams from Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy and South Africa - after leaving European rugby’s second tier competition. "We have decided to withdraw from the Rugby Europe Super Cup," Georgia's high performance director Levan Maisashvili told Mail Sport. "We now have the opportunity to start negotiations for inclusion in the URC. This is one of our biggest strategic goals and we have full support from World Rugby in this regard. "Inclusion in the URC would be a huge step for Georgian rugby, especially considering the circumstances we will face starting in 2026. From that point on, we will effectively lose the opportunity to play tier-one nations at international level before Rugby World Cups.... which will be detrimental for us. Therefore, the role of the Black Lion is even more important for the development of Georgian rugby." President Soso Tkemaladze added: "Black Lion is the only way for Georgian Rugby to develop. The Challenge Cup has given us a lot of experience over the last two years. We are looking for a new tournament. "We have ongoing negotiations with the URC and though we are at the beginning of the road, we have high expectations the development of Black Lion will continue in this direction." The move comes amid calls from Georgia to expand the Six Nations and bring them into the tournament, with Tkemaladze saying "the entire nation yearns" for such a decision to be made. "We are working very hard to achieve this goal," he said. "The time is approaching when we will all agree that expanding this tournament would be the best decision for everyone." While those in Georgia are keen to stress they do not want any of the existing Six Nations sides to drop out of the competition at their expense, the Lelos have challenged struggling Wales to a de-facto promotion and relegation showdown in Tbilisi this summer. However, Tkemaladze says their offer has, to date, been ignored by the Welsh Rugby Union. "So far, Wales have not responded to our invitation," he added. "They are not in their best shape these days. Our invitation is valid to this day. I wish them success in getting back to their strongest." Lawes has 'every chance' of Lions call-up Former England captain Courtney Lawes has "every chance" of making this summer's British & Irish Lions squad, according to his club coaches in France. The 36-year-old has played an integral role in Brive's Pro D2 campaign in his first season at the club, who currently sit in second place in the league table. His head coach Pierre-Henry Broncan and assistant Saïd Hirèche were full of praise for the former Northampton Saints man when asked about the influence he has had on the team, as they backed him to feature in Australia this summer. “Courtney is class," said Broncan. "You don’t win 100 caps for your country, captain England and Saints, and play for the British and Irish Lions by accident. He’s a hard worker. He never puts himself first – it’s always about the team. He’s the father of this group. A true leader. His calmness is his biggest strength. “If he keeps playing like this and performing in the big games, I think he has every chance of a Lions call-up. He knows Andy Farrell will be watching. "We’d be thrilled to have a British Lion playing at Brive – it would set a great example for our younger players. It would show them that playing international rugby is possible, even here.” Brive legend Hirèche added: “Every time he speaks – even just a few words – the whole team stops and listens. He’s a great role model for the younger lads. He’s humble, puts in the extra hours, and has poured his heart and soul into the club. He’s a fantastic leader.” In the event that Lawes is called up by Farrell, he could actually equal the record for the oldest player to ever feature in a Test match for the Lions. If he were to play in the final Test against the Wallabies on August 2nd, he would be 36 years and 160 days old, the same age as the current record holder Neil Back was when he played against New Zealand in 2005. Uncapped English star 'one of the very best' By Andrew Baldock, PA Rugby Union Correspondent Bath boss Johann van Graan hailed the influence of number eight Alfie Barbeary after he starred in a 61-26 EPCR Challenge Cup quarter-final victory over Gloucester. Uncapped Barbeary scored two of Bath’s nine tries and he was a dominant force throughout the Recreation Ground clash. "The reason I signed him two years ago was because of his Test potential,” Van Graan said.“When we started this journey together, one of the first things we were looking for were ball-carriers and I believe he is one of the very best ball-carriers. "I compare him to someone like CJ Stander (ex-Ireland and Munster back-row forward). You don’t get a lot of players in world rugby that can carry in tight spaces. He has got this ability to be in the right place at the right time. He has worked very hard on his game, he has worked very hard on his fitness and he is a very important player for us.” Bath booked an appointment with Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup semi-finals, 17 years after they last won the tournament when current England head coach Steve Borthwick captained them to victory over Worcester. A trip to the Scottish capital now awaits and the runaway Gallagher Premiership leaders remain in sparkling form. Barbeary apart, there were also touchdowns for Tom de Glanville, Tom Dunn, Archie Griffin, Ben Spencer, Jaco Coetzee, Ted Hill and Tom Carr-Smith, with Finn Russell kicking eight conversions. Bath, having already won the Premiership Rugby Cup, are chasing a trophy treble with the Challenge Cup and Premiership title both on their radar. Captain Ben Spencer said: “I think the hunger comes right through the squad, the guys who are not necessarily playing week, week out and it filters right through to the guys who are lucky enough to take the field. “The great thing about this squad is it keeps wanting to improve and get better. We park the last result quickly and we move on to the next result. There is massive hunger within the squad.” Gloucester were in contention throughout much of the first half and they scored tries through Santi Carreras, Jack Singleton, Jake Morris and Lewis Ludlow – Carreras added three conversions – but Bath never seriously relinquished their grip on the contest. Reflecting on the result, Gloucester rugby director George Skivington said: “We were beaten in every facet. We had a good week and I thought we were in a good spot, but I was obviously wrong. We have not played that poorly for a long time. “We made errors and it snowballed. This is a tough one to take. I wasn’t expecting this to be a high scoreline, I thought it would be a lot tighter. They (Bath) are a well-oiled machine. It is hard to know what 23 you are going to come across, so they are hard to analyse. They are going to be hard to stop. They have got the numbers and they could go and do a treble.”