Russia's World Cup

[Hulk Hogan]

Russia along with the USA are considered the "Sleeping Giants" of Rugby Union, Russia has vast amounts of player depth but a National love for Soccer rather than Rugby leaves them understrength, however a recent lift in interest in Rugby is slowly turning the country around and their national team just keeps improving.

For the World Cup Russia will field a relatively inexperienced squad with a few very dangerous players.
1. Alexander Khrokin
2. Vladislav Korshunov (c)
3. Sergey Popov

4. Artem Fatakhov
5. Alexander Voytov
6. Victor Gresev
7. Kiril Kushnarev
8. Nikita Medkov

9. Alexander Yanushkin
10. Alexander Shakirov
11. Igor Kluchnikov
12. Andre Kuzin
13. Alexy Makovetskiy
14. Oleg Kobzev
15. Vasily Artemiev

The danger men in the tight five are captain Vladislav Korshunov and prop Alexander Khrokin both constantly put their bodies on the line with no regard for their personal safety and their defense is consistently solid.
In the loose forwards blind side Victor Gresev make himself a pest and is constantly on the ball.
Their major problem is in the backs, they run terrific lines, have fantastic passing, but they don't really go anywhere, it's disappointing to see a team that is so very talented waste so many opportunities in attack, indeed their only real danger man is full back Vasily Artemiev, every time he touches the ball he cuts through oppositions and his defense is phenomenal, he once made 22 out of 22 tackles in game which is an amazing statistic.

Hopefully Russia can train hard and push forward to make it past the group stages in the Rugby World Cup, but unless they fix the issues with their backlines attack I can't see that happening.

 

[Black Heart]

I heard on radio sport the other day that Russia was planning to have rugby a part of almost every high school in the near future. This is in conjunction with 7s making the olympics. Don't know how much of it is true but it does sound promising. Rugby League has been growing significantly aswell in recent years.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

Russia have a domestic Professional league, something Australia don't even have yet support of rugby is growing quite fast as they regularly have crowds of up to 5000 people attending Professional Rugby League matches (The Rugby union Domestic competition) which is fantastic crowds for a country that is only really just beginning it's Rugby career.

 

[psychic duck]

I think Russia have the potential to be a good rugby team

their organised, and Russians are normally quite a big build, so I could see them at least have a big pack, like Georgia do

two players you missed on that team though are Andrei Ostrikov who is extremely likely to be playing for Sale next season, and Kiril Kulemin who plays for Castres

are you sure you're not exaggerating that they get 5000 crowds week in week out, that's more than Edinburgh get

 

[Hulk Hogan]

Well It's a slight bending of the truth, one team gets crowds like that reguarly and that's VVA-Podmoskovye, also my translations from Russian to English were a bit hard in some spots so I may have mistranslated some things :\

I had completly forgotten about Kiril Kulemin, my mistake he is a fantastic player, but I can't say I remember Andrei Ostrikov :\

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The fountain of all knowledge (wikipedia....) says that the average attendance in 2006 was 4285 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Rugby_League) so presuming it's popularity is still growing that sounds about right


Looking forward to seeing Russia play, great to see the sport doing well in another country, and I think they might cause an upset against America

 

[psychic duck]

how much does the national team get for attendances?

 

[Hulk Hogan]

how much does the national team get for attendances?

I'm not entirely sure I will try to find out for you.

 

[Amobokoboko]

I'm expecting some good rugby from them.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

I couldn't find the exact attendance for Russian International games, but I'd say it's between 15,000 and 30,000 it depends on what team they are playing really. USA and Georgia will pull a much larger crowd than say Ukraine.

 

[nickdnz]

I'm not expecting too much. They have a potential player pool to stive in rugby no doubt, but in time for this Rugby World Cup, no chance. When they played in New Zealand, they looked fairly well drilled, but they struggled to beat an inviational Taranaki XV and beat South Canterbury 31-7. In 2010 they managed wins over Taranaki XV, South Canterbury, Uruguay, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Romania but also had big losses to Japan, England Saxons, United States, Argentina Jaguars, Georgia with one draw against Romania. In order to progress they would need to manage to get at least three wing in a pool with either Ireland, Italy, Australia and the USA (the former being the only match I'd say the stand a chance, although USA would be the favourites with a 39-22 win over Russia last year).

 

[Hulk Hogan]

Maybe nothing big this world cup, but by 2015 I think they will have become a team at least as capable as Italy.

 

[dragos03]

I'd say Russian rugby is in decline after they managed to qualify for the world cup. Look at their results in 2011:
Spain - Russia 24-28 (narrow win against a team that was thrashed 60-0 by Georgia and 64-8 by Romania)
Russia - Portugal 19-21
Romania - Russia 33-3
Ukraine- Russia 5-41
Russia - Georgia 9-15

If they keep their current bad form, they might be one of the worst teams at the RWC.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

If the fullback needed to make !22 tackles! in the first place that doesn't say a lot about their general defense..

 

[Hulk Hogan]

If the fullback needed to make !22 tackles! in the first place that doesn't say a lot about their general defense..

No because he defends in the line usually in between the 12 and 13. It's an odd defence for a fullback but it works, he goes looking for tackles. the highest other player made like 9 tackles or something.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

No because he defends in the line usually in between the 12 and 13. It's an odd defence for a fullback but it works, he goes looking for tackles. the highest other player made like 9 tackles or something.

Interesting but who covers the back as sweeper; flyhalf maybe? wing?

I'm generally not a fan of these positional shifts (same with Quade Cooper dropping back on defense) because if that player gets injured your whole approach to defense needs to change rather than someone else just slotting in but I guess if it works for you it works for you. It can be especially tricky on turn-over ball if the communication isn't instant as I can imagine one player coming in to defend while the other doesn't drop back as cover in such a confusing instance.

 

[Hulk Hogan]

The blind side winger often drops back.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons have agreed to play Russia in warm-up games ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
....
Russia will arrive at Rodney Parade on 17 August, then play the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium on 20 August.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/13353690.


Kingsley Jones pulling some strings

Should be interesting - both teams will be without their internationals (I presume?), hopefully see some good rugby,
Apparently Russias matches in NZ were good

 

[dangandan]

the inclusion of rugby sevens at the Olympic games could really help Russia develop on the world stage. they've been a country known to really push their youth when it comes to Olympic events so it wouldn't surprise me if they do want to include rugby as a sport in most high schools. i remember when Vasily Artemiev was coming through the age group system having high hopes that he could be a star for Leinster and maybe Ireland but was disappointed to find his allegiance was with Russia. they are very lucky to have a player of his calibre in their squad. as an iconic player for Russia on the world stage he can attract more youth such as Daisuke Ohata probably did for Japan. this years world cup is probably too soon to be seeing any standout performances from their team.

 

[kavin]

they got strong team and bright future.