Russia national rugby union team

Russia

Union	Rugby Union of Russia
Nickname(s)	Bears
Coach(es)	Kingsley Jones
Captain(s)	Vladislav Korshunov
Most caps	Andrey Kuzin - 78
Top scorer	Konstantin Rachkov - 347
Team kit Change kit
First international
Barbarian F.C. 23 – 27 Russia (6 June 1992) Belgium 11 – 17 Russia (11 Oct 1992)
Largest win
Denmark 7 – 104 Russia (13 May 2000)
Largest defeat
Russia 3 – 75 Japan (6 November 2010)
World Cup
Appearances	(First in 2011)
Best result	2011 - 5th in group

The Russian National Rugby Union Team, is the national team representing Russia at the sport of rugby union.

Rugby union in Russia is administered by the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR). The RUR is the official successor union of the Soviet Union and the combined CIS team which played in the early 1990s. Since 1992, the team has played as Russia.

Russia is seen as a Tier 2 union by the International Rugby Board (IRB). The team's regular international competition is in the European Nations Cup (ENC) Division 1A – often referred to as the Six Nations B, and in both 2010 and 2011 the team featured at the Churchill Cup.

Russia competed in their first Rugby World Cup (RWC) in New Zealand in 2011 after qualifying as Europe 2 through their second place finish in the 2009–10 ENC. Russia played in Pool C and finished fifth, scoring one point. Previous qualification campaigns saw elimination to Portugal ahead of the 2007 tournament and expulsion from 2003 qualifying for breaches of eligibility rules.

On introduction of the IRB World Rankings in October 2003, Russia was ranked 23rd. Since then the team's lowest ranking was 26 (most recently in October 2005). The team has been an ever-present in the top 20 since June 2006, peaking at 16 on several occasions (most recently in February 2010). As of October 10, 2011, they are ranked 21st.

Russia also has a Rugby Sevens team, which competes in the IRB World Sevens Series (WSS) and the FIRA-AER Grand Prix Sevens (GPS) circuit. The team has recorded wins against Tier 1 nations and recorded their first top 8 finish at the 2011 Hong Kong Sevens and a win in the GPS in Barcelona. Russia's women's side also competes at international sevens events.

History

Georgia v. Russia, 24 March 2007

The Rugby Union of the Soviet Union was founded in 1936, although the national side did not play its first official international until 1974.

The Soviet Union took time to establish itself, but by the mid-1980s was regularly beating the likes of Italy and Romania. The team was invited to the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup, but declined on political grounds, not least the continued IRB membership of apartheid South Africa.

Following the break up of the USSR, Russian players played for the interim Commonwealth of Independent States team, which played four matches during 1991 and 1992.

The first game played by the new Russian national team took place on June 6, 1992, when Russia beat the Barbarians 27–23. Russia's first game against a full IRB member was versus Belgium four months later in the 1992/4 FIRA-AER European Trophy. That edition of the tournament saw Russia secure its first, and to-date only, win over Georgia. Russia continued to particpate until reallignment of FIRA-AER competitions in 2000.

The Russian national side has since played its regular competitive rugby in FIRA-AER's European Nations Cup, the second level mirror tournament to the Six Nations. Russia replaced Morroco in the top tier in 2001 after a team-record nine-win streak and have stayed there ever since. The Russian side has yet to win the title, but has come close with second place finishes twice, in the 2009 and the 2007-8 editions. It also secured second place in the 2009–10 combined table used in Rugby World Cup qualification.

In addition, as part of attempts to secure regular international fixtures the team has played in the now-defunct Superpowers Cup, winning the tournament once, the Nations Cup, and most recently the Churchill Cup. The Russian side has also played representative teams including England Counties, France's equivalent side, South African Super Rugby youth sides and university sides, and New Zealand club teams as it seeks to vary and improve the quality of opposition.

The RUR has been attempting to gain greater participation in the autumn test window, and is now being integrated into the IRB's global test match schedule.

Rugby World Cup

Main article: Russia at the Rugby World Cup

IRB World Rankings
Top 25 Rankings as of 6 February 2012
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	91.43
2		Australia	87.99
3		France	84.70
4		South Africa	84.34
5		England	82.34
6		Wales	81.01
7		Argentina	80.28
8		Ireland	79.25
9		Tonga	76.63
10		Samoa	75.81
11		Scotland	75.44
12		Italy	73.99
13		Canada	72.92
14		Georgia	71.09
15		Japan	70.45
16		Fiji	68.78
17		United States	65.63
18		Romania	63.98
19		Namibia	61.24
20		Russia	60.54
21		Uruguay	60.47
22		Spain	60.33
23		Chile	59.52
24		Portugal	59.30
25		Belgium	57.02
*Change from the previous week
Russia's Historical Rankings
Source: IRB - Graph updated to 23/01/2012

Russia qualified for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand as Europe 2 after finishing second in the 2008–10 ENC. This marked the team's debut in the tournament, where they faced Australia, Ireland, Italy and the United States in Group C of the tournament.

In 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying, Russia came through European qualifying to a mini-group stage where they were pooled with Italy and Portugal. The winner would qualify directly and the second place team would continue the qualification process, with the third-placed team eliminated. After both losing heavily to Italy, Portugal and Russia met to determine progression to qualifying round 5. Russia lost the match, played in Lisbon, 26–23 and dropped out.

The Russian national side was expelled from qualifying for the 2003 Rugby World Cup, due to eligibility issues. Spain, who Russia had beaten in qualifying, protested the fielding of three South African-born players (Johan Hendriks, Reiner Volschenck and Werner Pieterse), who the RUR claimed had qualified through ancestry. However, the RUR did not produce documentation deemed acceptable by the IRB, and Spain were re-instated in qualification in Russia's place.

In European qualifying for the 1999 Rugby World Cup, Russia finished fourth in Pool 1 in Round B, which was not enough to progress from a group also including Italy, Georgia, Croatia, and Denmark.

In qualifying for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the first in which the national side was involved, Russia came through preliminary qualifying with wins over Poland and Georgia, before beating Germany but losing to Romania for the Eastern Europe spot.

The Soviet Rugby Union was not an IRB member in time for qualifying and declined to take up its invite to take part in the 1987 tournament.

Current Players

Russia's selection policy has traditionally centered around its domestic league's three most successful club sides: VVA-Podmoskovye (Moscow region), Yenisey-STM, and Krasny Yar (both Krasnoyarsk), and this trend continued with the announcement of their 30-man World Cup squad in August 2011.

A small number of Russian players have played or are based in France, notably Kirill Kulemin in the Top 14 (although he missed the 2011 Rugby World Cup due to injury), and other players at Pro D2 and Federale levels.

In March 2011, it was officially announced that Vasily Artemiev had become the first Russian player to sign to play in the Aviva Premiership after agreeing terms with Northampton Saints starting from the 2011/2 season. He will be joined in that competition by flanker/lock Andrey Ostrikov, who joins Sale Sharks from French club Aurillac. VVA-Podmoskovye captain Vladislav Korshunov and Victor Gresev joined London Wasps in January 2012 for the remainder of the 2011/12 season.

Another foreign-based player named in Russia's Rugby World Cup squad was Melbourne Rebels lock Adam Byrnes, who qualifies for the Bears through his mother and maternal grandparents.

VVA-Podmoskovye captain Vladislav Korshunov has skippered the national side since 2008, following in the footsteps of fellow hookers Vladimir Marchenko and Roman Romak.

Russia announced their 30-man squad for the 2011 Rugby World Cup on the 23rd August.
Note: Flags indicate national union for the club/province as defined by the International Rugby Board.

Player Position Date of Birth (Age) Caps Club/province Vladislav Korshunov (c) Hooker 13 February 1983 (1983-02-13) 58 London Wasps Evgenii Matveev Hooker 15 April 1985 (1985-04-15) 29 VVA-Podmoskovye Valeriy Tsnobiladze Hooker 3 November 1980 (1980-11-03) 6 Novokuznetsk Alexander Khrokin Prop 10 July 1976 (1976-07-10) 76 VVA-Podmoskovye Sergey Popov Prop 7 September 1982 (1982-09-07) 20 Slava Moscow Ivan Prishchepenko Prop 26 May 1982 (1982-05-26) 37 Krasny Yar Alexey Travkin Prop 2 August 1977 (1977-08-02) 57 VVA-Podmoskovye Denis Antonov Lock 17 September 1986 (1986-09-17) 5 Slava Moscow Adam Byrnes Lock 29 July 1981 (1981-07-29) 4 Melbourne Rebels Andrey Ostrikov Lock 2 July 1987 (1987-07-02) 15 Sale Sharks Alexander Voytov Lock 7 December 1981 (1981-12-07) 48 VVA-Podmoskovye Artem Fatakhov Flanker 8 September 1979 (1979-09-08) 40 VVA-Podmoskovye Andrey Garbuzov Flanker 7 August 1983 (1983-08-07) 38 Krasny Yar Mikhail Sidorov Flanker 19 November 1986 (1986-11-19) 3 Slava Moscow Viatcheslav Grachev (vc) Number 8 22 April 1973 (1973-04-22) 73 Bizanos Victor Gresev Number 8 31 March 1986 (1986-03-31) 38 London Wasps Andrey Bykanov Scrum-half 25 May 1980 (1980-05-25) 8 Slava Moscow Alexander Shakirov Scrum-half 20 January 1981 (1981-01-20) 51 VVA-Podmoskovye Alexander Yanyushkin Scrum-half 30 October 1982 (1982-10-30) 49 VVA-Podmoskovye Yury Kushnarev Fly-half 6 June 1985 (1985-06-06) 43 VVA-Podmoskovye Konstantin Rachkov Fly-half 8 October 1978 (1978-10-08) 44 Stade Phocéen Mikhail Babaev Centre 19 January 1986 (1986-01-19) 35 VVA-Podmoskovye Sergey Trishin Centre 12 December 1984 (1984-12-12) 37 VVA-Podmoskovye Alexey Makovetskiy Centre 27 March 1983 (1983-03-27) 14 Krasny Yar Vasily Artemiev Wing 24 July 1987 (1987-07-24) 29 Northampton Saints Andrei Kuzin Wing 29 October 1978 (1978-10-29) 78 VVA-Podmoskovye Vladimir Ostroushko Wing 30 September 1986 (1986-09-30) 20 Yenisey-STM Igor Klyuchnikov Fullback 7 January 1983 (1983-01-07) 49 VVA-Podmoskovye Denis Simplikevich Fullback 11 March 1991 (1991-03-11) 2 Yenisey-STM

Vladislav Korshunov

Coaching staff

VVA-Podmoskovye coach Nikolay Nerush also served as head coach of the Russian national rugby union team through the end of Rugby World Cup 2011, announcing he retirement ahead of the game against Australia. National Teams Director and former Wales flanker Kingsley Jones overseas elite performance. Also on the coaching staff is cross-code international Henry Paul, former Wales prop Darren Morris, and conditioning coach Paul Pool. Prior to Jones' addition to the coaching staff during the 2011 ENC campaign, Nerush worked alongside current Sale Sharks head coach Steve Diamond. The two replaced Frenchman and former coach of Georgia, Claude Saurel.

Home grounds

The Russian rugby team has no fixed national stadium at present. Russia has hosted international fixtures at a number of venues around the country. These include the rugby hotbed of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, where the national side played its one full test against a foundation union, versus Ireland in 2002. Other games have been played in Moscow, normally at Slava Stadium in the city centre, Penza, and most recently at the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Sochi was selected as a case of convenience, as climatic conditions in other venues have proved too severe to guarantee playability during the ENC's February–March window. Support in Sochi is minimal and it is hoped that the completion of a stadium for the VVA-Podmoskovye club in Monino, Moscow region, with full undersoil heating will allow international fixtures to be played closer to Russian rugby's support bases.

Recent results (Last 3 Years)

2012 European Nations Cup Division 1A

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	11-Feb-2012	Portugal	32-33	Russia	Estádio Universitário, Lisbon
	25-Feb-2012	Russia		Romania	Central Stadium, Sochi
	10-Mar-2012	Russia		Ukraine	Central Stadium, Sochi
	17-Mar-2012	Georgia		Russia	Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi
	19-May-2012	Russia		Spain	Moscow

2011 Rugby World Cup

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	15-Sep-2011	Russia	6-13	United States	Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth
	20-Sep-2011	Russia	17-53	Italy	Trafalgar Park, Nelson
	25-Sep-2011	Russia	12-62	Ireland	Rotorua International Stadium, Rotorua
	1-Oct-2011	Russia	22-68	Australia	Trafalgar Park, Nelson

Rugby World Cup warm up matches

Four fixtures against British club sides were announced as part of the team's preparation for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	12-Aug-2011	Northampton Saints	54–19	Russia	Franklin's Gardens, Northampton
	17-Aug-2011	Newport Gwent Dragons	40–12	Russia	Rodney Parade, Newport
	19-Aug-2011	Ospreys	46–19	Russia	Liberty Stadium, Swansea
	26-Aug-2011	Gloucester Rugby	47–7	Russia	Kingsholm, Gloucester

2011 Churchill Cup=

In June 2011, Russia took part in its second Churchill Cup, this time played in England. The team placed sixth, losing all three of its game, two by one score or less.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	8-Jun-2011	Russia	18–34	Canada	Molesey Road, Esher, England
	11-Jun-2011	Russia	19–24	Italy A	Kingsholm, Gloucester, England
	18-Jun-2011	Russia	25–32	United States	Sixways, Worcester, England

2011 ENC Division 1A

With defeats to Portugal, Romania, and Georgia, Russia placed fourth in the 2011 edition of the European Nations Cup, Division 1A

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	5-Feb-2011	Spain	24–28	Russia	Estadio Universidad Complutense, Madrid
	12-Feb-2011	Russia	19–21	Portugal	Central Stadium, Sochi
	26-Feb-2011	Romania	33–3	Russia	Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
	12-Mar-2011	Ukraine	5–41	Russia	Odessa
	19-Mar-2011	Russia	9–15	Georgia	Central Stadium, Sochi

2010 autumn internationals

Russia hosted the Argentina Jaguars for its end of year internationals and lost both games, before travelling to Japan for a comprehensive 75–3 loss against the Brave Blossoms. That defeat is the team's record defeat, eclipsing an earlier 67–7 loss to Italy during 2007 Rugby World Cup qualifying, which remains the team's worst home loss.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	23-Oct-2010	Russia	20–40	Argentina Jaguars	Slava Stadium, Moscow
	30-Oct-2010	Russia	6–32	Argentina Jaguars	Slava Stadium, Moscow
	6-Nov-2010	Japan	75–3	Russia	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo

2010 Churchill Cup

The Russian team made its debut at the 2010 Churchill Cup, played in Glendale, Colorado, and New Jersey. The team placed fifth after defeating Uruguay 38–19 in the Bowl final.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	5-Jun-2010	Russia	22–39	United States	Infinity Park, Glendale, CO
	9-Jun-2010	Russia	17–49	England Saxons	Infinity Park, Glendale, CO
	19-Jun-2010	Russia	38–19	Uruguay	Red Bull Arena, Harrison, NJ

2008–10 ENC 1st Division / 2011 RWC qualifying

Russia placed second in the two-year format competition (although the ENC retroactively reverted to single-year championships to mirror the Six Nations for these seasons), meaning the team qualified for its first ever Rugby World Cup as Europe 2. The games against Georgia were played on neutral grounds following the conflict in South Ossetia in 2008.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	8-Nov-2008	Russia	42–15	Spain	Slava Stadium, Moscow
	9-Feb-2009	Portugal	14–18	Russia	Estádio Universitário, Lisbon
	28-Feb-2009	Romania	19–28	Russia	Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
	21-Mar-2009	Russia	21–29	Georgia	Illichivets Stadium, Mariupol, Ukraine
	2-May-2009	Germany	0–53	Russia	Rudolf-Kalweit-Stadion, Hanover, Germany
	6-Feb-2010	Russia	14–10	Portugal	Central Stadium, Sochi
	13-Feb-2010	Spain	20–38	Russia	Estadio Universidad Complutense, Madrid
	27-Feb-2010	Russia	21–21	Romania	Central Stadium, Sochi
	13-Mar-2010	Russia	48–11	Germany	Central Stadium, Sochi
	20-Mar-2010	Georgia	36–8	Russia	Akçaabat Fatih Stadium, Trabzon, Turkey

2009 autumn/winter internationals

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	23-Jan-2010	Namibia	15–30	Russia	Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, Windhoek
	28-Nov-2009	Canada	22–6	Russia	Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver

2009 IRB Nations Cup

Russia placed fifth in their third Nations Cup appearance, losing out on fourth place to hosts Romania on points difference. In previous editions, Russia finished sixth in 2008 and third in 2006.

	Match Results
	Date	Home	Score	Away	Venue
	12-June-2009	Scotland A	49–7	Russia	Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
	16-June-2009	Italy A	35–3	Russia	Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest
	21-June-2009	Russia	29–26	Uruguay	Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest

See also

• CIS
• USSR national rugby union team
• Russia national rugby league team

External links

• (Russian) Rugby Union of Russia – Official Site
• (Russian) Rugby Union of Russia – Official Merchandise