International Rugby: Russian Bears in Southern Africa

All your poor Northern Hemisphere rugby followers who are frozen this January spare a thought for those Russian rugby players basking in the heat of a South African summer.

The Russian rugby squad flew out to South Africa to prepare for their European Nations Cup and World Cup qualifiers, due in February and March this year. Whilst at a training camp in South Africa the Russians will play matches against Pretoria University (Jan 13), Blue Bulls (Jan 18), and then a full test against Namibia (Jan 23).

The Squad
Vasily Artemyev (VVA-Podmoskovje) Age 22, 5 tests
Oleg Azarenko (Krasny Yar) ?, 2, Last played v Italy, 14.10.2006
Mikhail Babaev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 23, 18
Sergey Bazhenov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 24, 10
Vladimir Botvinnikov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 25, 10
Artem Fatakhov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 30, 15
Igor Galinovsky (Krasny Yar) ?, 2
Andrey Garbuzov (Krasny Yar) 26, 20
Victor Gresev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 23, 18
Alexander Gvozdovsky (Krasny Yar) 29,14
Alexander Khrokin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 33, 37
Igor Kluchnikov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 28, 29
Alexey Korobeynikov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 30, 17
Vladislav Korshunov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 25
Kirill Kushnarev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 12
Yury Kushnarev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 24, 25
Andrey Kuzin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 30, 24
Karlo Maglakelidze (Imperia Penza) ?, 3
Alexey Makovetsky (Krasny Yar) ?, 1
Evgeny Matveev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 25, 15
Nikita Medkov (Slava Moscow) 23, 3
Giorghy Minadze (Imperia Penza) ?, 1
Pavel Novikov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) ?, New Cap
Alexey Panasenko (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 9
Evgeny Pronenko (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 25, 5
Alexander Shakirov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 28, 20
Andrey Temnov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) ?, 2, Last played v Spain 10.02.2007
Alexey Tolstykh (Krasny Yar) ?, New Cap
Alexey Travkin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 32, 27
Sergey Trishin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 24, 16
Grigory Tsnobiladze (Novokuznetsk) New Cap
Valery Tsnobiladze (Novokuznetsk) New Cap
Alexander Voitov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 27, 20
Alexander Yanyushkin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 23
Head Coach: Nikolay Nerush

http://www.rugby.ru/news/p_1/id_1198/
Data from http://www.rugbyinternational.net/