Claude Saurel (born 17 April 1948[1]) is a former French rugby union footballer and current coach.
He made the move to Georgia after he was invited to conduct an audit of Georgian rugby in 1997.
He went on to work with their Rugby Sevens team, until he was appointed as the national head coach in the summer of 1999.
The following year, Georgia improved upon their impressive performance at the European Nations in 2000, they won all five of their matches during the 2001 tournament, and thus finishing at the top of the table.
Although they were comprehensively defeated by England in their opening game as well as Samoa, they performed well against the Springboks and Uruguay.