Russia picked up their first-ever win against Canada with a resounding 43-20 victory in Ottowa on Saturday.
The Russians had lost their last four meetings against the Canadians but showed an impressive attacking display that would have dented the Canadians’ confidence ahead of their qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup.
The home side got off to a good start with a penalty from fullback Brock Staller, but it was all Russia from then on as No 8 Anton Rodui scored a hat-trick in a Man of the Match performance.
Rudoi was set up by fullback Vasily Artemyev for the opening try, and the scrum was the platform for flanker Nikita Vavilin’s try and then Rudoi’s second.
Canada responded through a try from No 8 Luke Campbell, but Russia continued their onslaught with wing Aleksei Mikhaltsov scoring either side of half-time, before Rodui completed his hat-trick.
The Canadians finished strongly, with Nick Blevins executing a fine counter-attack in the closing stages, but Russia had the game wrapped by then.
Canada – Tries: Luke Campbell, Nick Blevins. Conversions: Brock Staller, Shane O’Leary. Penalties: Staller (2).
Russia – Tries: Anton Rudoi (3), Aleksei Mikhaltsov (2), Nikita Vavilin. Conversions: Yury Kushnarev (5). Penalty: Kushnarev.
Canada – 15 Brock Staller, 14 Jeff Hassler, 13 Doug Fraser, 12 Nick Blevins, 11 Cole Davis, 10 Theo Sauder, 9 Andrew Ferguson, 8 Luke Campbell, 7 Lucas Rumball, 6 Dustin Dobravsky, 5 Evan Olmstead, 4 Josh Larsen, 3 Cole Keith, 2 Ray Barkwill, 1 Noah Barker.
Replacements: 16 Eric Howard, 17 Djustice Sears-Duru, 18 Ryan Kotlewski, 19 Conor Keys, 20 Matt Heaton, 21 Jorden Sandover-Best, 22 Shane O’Leary, 23 Guiseppe du Toit.
Russia – 15 Vasily Artemyev, 14 Mikhail Babaev, 13 Kirill Golosnitsky, 12 Sergey Trishin, 11 Aleksei Mikhaltsov, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Alexei Shcherban, 8 Anton Rudoi, 7 Dimitri Krotov, 6 Nikita Vavilin, 5 Andrey Garbuzov, 4 Bogdan Fedotko, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 2 Stanislav Sel’skiy, 1 Valery Morozov.
Subs: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Sergey Sekisov, 18 Anton Drozdov, 19 Evgeny Elgin, 20 Anton Sychev, 21 Vasilii Dorofeev, 22 Aleksandr Budychenko, 23 German Godlyuk.
Photo: Sean Burges/Getty Images
