Rugby World Cup team profile: Russia
The Russian National Rugby Union team, popularly known as The Bears, is placed in Pool C of the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC). Besides Russia, others teams in Pool C include Australia, Ireland, Italy and the USA.
Russia are currently placed in 19th place in the International Rugby Board’s (IRB) World Rankings, and are followed by Namibia resting easy in 20th.
The 2011 RWC is Russia’s first appearance in the rugby union’s world premier championship. They secured their place after they played a 21 – 21 draw with the Romanian Rugby Union side at Sochi, on February 2010 in the European Nations Cup.
Recently, The Bears have not enjoyed much success. They lost both of their 2011 Churchill Cup Pool matches against Tonga and Italy A. They finished the tournament in sixth place after suffering a 32 -25 defeat at the hands of their arch rivals, USA Eagles, in the fifth place play off.
Later this year in August, Russia will play four pre-World Cup warm up matched against some decent European clubs. They are scheduled to clash against the Northampton Saints, Newport, Ospreys and Gloucester Rugby.
The most notable of all the Russian players is Vasili Artemiev. The utility backs player Artemiev burst on to the Rugby scene following his impressive performance during the 2010 Churchill Cup tournament. Most observers agree that the player is simply magnificent to watch, with his genuine pace, excellent ball handling and tackling skills. Artemiev has so far scored eight tries in the 21 appearances for Russia. Currently, he has signed a professional deal with the English Premiership side Northampton Saints.
Additionally, Australian Super Rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels lock Adam Byrnes is also named in the 50 –man provisional 2011 RWC squad for the Bears.
The Russian 50 – man provisional squad announced by the Rugby Union of Russia on June 20 include:
(Backs 22) Vasily Artemyev (Northampton Saints), Mikhail Babaev (VVA-Podmoskovye), Andrey Bykanov (Slava-ShVSM), Igor Galinovskiy (Krasniy Yar), Dmitry Gerasimov (Enisey-STM), Igor Klyuchnikov (VVA-Podmoskovye), Vladimir Kondrashov (Slava-ShVSM), Alexey Korobeynikov (Enisey-STM), Yury Kushnarev (VVA-Podmoskovye), Andrey Kuzin (VVA-Podmoskovye), Alexey Makovetskiy (Krasniy Yar), Vladimir Ostroushko (Enisey-STM), Konstantin Rachkov (Stade Phoceen), Anton Ryabov (Krasniy Yar), Alexander Shakirov(VVA-Podmoskovye), Alexey Shcherban (Enisey-STM), Denis Simplikevich (Enisey-STM), Sergey Sugrobov (Slava-ShVSM), Sergey Trishin (VVA-Podmoskovye), Rushan Yagudin (Krasniy Yar), Alexander Yanyushkin (VVA-Podmoskovye), Nikolay Zaporzhin (VVA-Podmoskovye). (Forwards 28) Denis Antonov (Slava-ShVSM), Vladimir Boltenkov (Imperiya), Vladimir Botvinnikov (Enisey-STM), Adam Byrnes (Melbourne Rebels), Alexey Chernyshev (Slava-ShVSM), Artem Fatakhov (VVA-Podmoskovye), Andrey Garbuzov (Krasniy Yar), Viatcheslav Grachev (Bizanos), Victor Gresev (VVA-Podmoskovye), Alexander Khrokin (VVA-Podmoskovye), Vladislav Korshunov (VVA-Podmoskovye), Kirill Kulemin (Castres), Kirill Kushnarev (VVA-Podmoskovye), Karlo Maglakelidze (Imperiya), Evgeny Matveev (VVA-Podmoskovye), Nikita Medkov (Enisey-STM), Andrey Ostrikov (Sale Sharks), Alexey Panasenko (VVA-Podmoskovye), Sergey Popov (Slava-ShVSM), Ivan Prishchepenko (Krasniy Yar), Evgeny Pronenko (Enisey-STM), Mikhail Sidorov (Slava-ShVSM), Andrey Temnov (Enisey-STM), Alexey Travkin (VVA-Podmoskovye), Valery Tsnobiladze (Novokuznetsk), Grigory Tsnobiladze (Novokuznetsk), Alexey Volkov (VVA-Podmoskovye), Alexander Voytov (VVA-Podmoskovye)
Russian will most probably exit the 2011 World Rugby’s showpiece tournament by the end of the first round. Their best chance of winning a game is their world cup opener against their rivals USA. Russia will take on USA at Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth, on September 15.
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