Russia have had a tumultuous time with regard to their World Cup aspirations, DARRYN POLLOCK highlights some interesting points about the Bears’ progress.

Strength:

The Russians are renowned for being hard as nails in their rugby. They are a forwards-based team that will try to slow the game down to a grind, where they can beat small teams into submission.

Weakness:

Russia is a classic minnow team that lacks the professionalism of most of the teams at the World Cup. Their players are simply not as good as the average standard and their team dynamic will be littered with basic mistakes.

Key players:

The Russians don’t boast too many superstar players. In fact, most of their squad play their rugby in Russia where the game is still a minority sport. That being said, they do have Valery Morozov, who plays prop for the Sale Sharks in the English Premiership, as well as lock Andrei Ostrikov, who will be a bit more familiar, having played 125 games for Sale.

Coach:

The Russian Bears are coached by former Welsh flank Lyn Jones. He earned five caps for Wales in 1993 but was a mainstay for Neath RFC – where he also cut his coaching teeth – for nine years. Jones did most of his coaching in Wales before breaking away to coach the Namibian Welwitschias in the Currie Cup.

– This is a snippet from October issue of SA Rugby Magazine that previews every team at the World Cup, now on sale!  

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