CHURCHILL CUP TEST RUGBY: Russia Begins Tournament

08.06.2011
Russia v Canada in Esher (Churchill Cup, Pool B)

Venue: Moseley Road

Referee:

Preview
The Russians begin their 2011 Rugby World Cup preparations here in England. Invited to the 2011 Churchill Cup, the Russians will need to take very opportunity to mould their mostly experienced players into a unit worthy of taking their part in the Rugby World Cup. Their recent form in The European Nations Cup is mostly forgettable.

The Russians defeated only the lower placed teams in this competition, defeating Spain and Ukraine, but lost to Portugal, Romania and Georgia. Prior to that the Japanese took them apart 3-75 in Tokyo. They did some acclimatising in New Zealand in January. This team just needs to play at its best to convince all of their rightful place in world rugby. They will need to be at their best to handle the Canadians.

Canada defeated Italy ‘A’ 26-12 in their first game on Saturday. A win today will place them in the final on the 18th June. Head Coach Kieran Crowley has named French Top 14 player Jamie Cudmore in his line up. Cudmore last played for Canada at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Apart from Cudmore Crowley has given some of the lesser lights in the side a run.

These two teams have met only once before in a test match
28.11.2009 Canada 22-6 in Vancouver (Friendly)
GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Canada 16th, Russia 21st

IRB Ranking Points
Canada 69.19, Russia 63.17

Prediction: Canada by 13 points

Teams

Russia
15 Igor Kluchnicov (VVA-Podmoskovje) Age 28, 33 tests
14 Vasily Artemiev (Northampton Saints, England) 23, 19
13 Igor Galinovskiy (Krasny Yar) 24, 14
12 Alexey Makovetskiy (Krasny Yar) 28, 7
11 Vladimir Ostroushko (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 24, 11
10 Yuri Kushnarev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 35
9 Alexander Shakirov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 30, 31
8 Vyacheslav Gratchev (Avenir de Bizanos, France) 38, 17
7 Andrey Garbuzov (Krasny Yar) 27, 26
6 Andrey Temnov (Enisey-STM-Krasnoyarsk) 28, 10
5 Alexander Voitov (VVA-Podmoskovje) 29, 31
4 Vladimir Boltenkov (Imperia Penza) New cap
3 Ivan Prischepenko (Krasny Yar) 29, 23
2 Vlad Korshunov, Capt. (VVA-Podmoskovje) 28, 37
1 Sergey Popov (Slava Moscow) 28, 11
Replacements
16 Valery Tsnobiladze (Novokuznetsk) New cap
17 Alexey Travkin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 33, 29
18 Alexey Panasenko (VVA-Podmoskovje) 28, 17
19 Victor Gresev (VVA-Podmoskovje) 25, 23
20 Andrey Bykanov (Slava Moscow) ?, 1
21 Sergey Trishin (VVA-Podmoskovje) 26, 27
22 Anton Ryabov (Krasny Yar) New cap
Head Coach: Nik Nerush

Canada
15 James Pritchard (Bedford RFC, England) Age 31, 33 tests
14 Matthew Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons, Wales) 23, 10
13 Conor Trainor (British Columbia) New cap
12 Michael Sholtz (Ontario Blues) 22, 1
11 Justin Mensah-Coker (British Columbia) 27, 23
10 Ander Monro, Capt. (Ontario Blues) 29, 19
9 Sean White (British Columbia) 22, 8
8 Aaron Carpenter (Plymouth Albion, England) 28, 32
7 Chauncey O'Toole (The Rock) 25, 10
6 Jebb Sinclair (The Rock) 25, 14
5 Jamie Cudmore (Clermont Ferrand, France) 31, 19
4 Tyler Hoston (Plymouth Albion, England) 26, 17
3 Scott Franklin (Prairie Wolf Pack) 30, 6
2 Ryan Hamilton (British Columbia) 23, 1
1 Thomas Dolezel (Prairie Wolf Pack) 26, 6
Replacemets
16 Patrick Riordan (British Columbia) 31, 32
17 Andrew Tiedemann (Prairie Wolf Pack) 22, 9
18 Hubert Buydens (Prairie Wolf Pack) ?, 1
19 Mitchell Gudgeon (British Columbia) 25, 1
20 Nanyak Dala (Prairie Wolf Pack) 26, 9
21 Edward Fairhurst (British Columbia) 32, 42
22 Philip Mackenzie (Esher RFC, England) 24, 6
Head Coach: Kieran Crowley

Team lists adapted from http://www.churchillcuprugby.net/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientid=3731&leagueid=0&page=53380
Data from www.rugbyinternational.net