Zenit St Petersburg lifted the UEFA Cup last night, after a well deserved 2-0 victory over Scottish side Glasgow Rangers.

In front of tens of thousands of Russian fans who had travelled to Manchester for the game, Zenit were clearly the better side. But, although dominating the early exchanges, Zenit were unable to pierce Rangers’ well organised defence - the bedrock of their UEFA Cup campaign so far - during the first half.

But on 72 minutes, a wonderful goal from Igor Denisov, who burst through the Rangers defence, turned the final decisively in Zenit’s favour.

Rangers tried to push for the extra goal, but all of their desperate attacks were repulsed by Zenit and even a Rangers penalty claim was turned down by the referee.

Konstantin Zyrinaov sealed victory, and the title, for Zenit wth a cool side-foot into the net four minutes into stoppage time.

Russia is, as you would imagine, ecstatic - the victory was important enough that Prime Minister Putin called manager Dick Advocaat after the match to congratulate him. (No word, though, of whether new President Dmitry Medvedev, who is apparently a Zenit supporter, made a congratulatory call).

Victory in the UEFA Cup will be a wonderful boost for football in Russia, and for St Petersburg in particular. They’ll be especially pleased that CSKA Moscow, who won this tournament back in 2005 can no longer lord it over them.  Although they will worry slightly that victory will attract the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs, who will be keen to poach Zenit’s best players, and their world renowned coach Dick Advocaat.

The only downside to the match was the news that one Russian fan was stabbed by Rangers fans during the match. He’s reported to be in stable condition, and out of danger, but this can only heighten tension ahead of the Champions League FInal in Moscow next week. Two English teams will be playing in Moscow, but there will be a segment of Russian fans who want revenge, and who may not make the distinction between English and Scottish fans.

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Georgia ground out a hard fought (literally, at times) 18-12 victory over Russia in Krasnoyarsk in the Rugby Union European Nations Cup title decider.

Although each team still has one game to play, Georgia have now pulled two points clear of Russia. Georgia’s stronger record in head to head matches between the two teams ensures that they will be crowned European Nations Cup champions for 2008.

A match report and video highlights of the game are below.

Bruising encounter

On a snow covered Krasnoyarsk pitch, the Georgian Lelos roared into an early lead.

Otar Barkalaia was rather fortunate to score under the posts after just 7 minutes but, after converting his own try and following up with a penalty on the 20 minute mark he had almost single-handedly given Georgia a 10-0 lead.

Russia, as seems traditional, ground their way back into the game with four penalties from the boot of Yuri Kushnariov. His fourth kick after 68 minutes brought Russia back to within a point of the Lelos. With the momentum and in front of their passionate home crowd, it would have been hard to bet against the Bears at this point.

But David Katcharava had other ideas. Picking up a quick pass from Lasha Malaghuradze, the winger flew past the Russian defence from 15 yards out to score the winning points.

Russia, roared on by their home crowd, threw everything at Georgia in the last few minutes, but despite battering the Georgian try line, they were unable to quite push their way over.

By all accounts, the match was an ill-tempered one. Two massive brawls scarred the game. A free for all late in the second half led to both number 6s being sin-binned. (Although, according to the Georgian Rugby Union reporter, both players then sat side by side in the sin bin, wrapped in blankets and chatting amiably). And, Georgia’s winning try led to a second brawl and a trip to the sin bin for Georgian prop Goderdzi Shvelidze.

For your voyeuristic entertainment, here’s the first brawl in all its glory:

Looking forward

Regardless of the result, the match has provided a tremendous boost for Russian rugby. The match itself was covered live on NTV-Sports, and will have introduced the game to many new fans.

And, after a strong Nations Cup campaign which has seen the Bears rise to 16th in the world rankings, Russia will be looking forward to a series of further high profile matches over the summer.

IRB Nations Cup, June

Most importantly, Russia will be playing in the IRB Nations Cup tournament in Romania this June. The annual tournament was set up in 2006 to give tier 2 nations the opportunity to test themselves against a higher level of competition than they would normally meet in regional competition.

Russia avoided Georgia in the group draw, and will open the tournaments with matches against Italy A, Romania and Uraguay. Georgia, on the other hand, face the much tougher proposition of matches against Uraguay, the Emerging Springboks (South Africa B) and Italy B.

The top 4 teams from the group stages will progress to the Semi-Finals and, from the fixture list, it looks as though Russia have a pretty good shot.

IRB Sevens tournaments

Russia have also had a fairly good season in Sevens, the lighter form of the game. They won the Bowl tournament in the Hong Kong Sevens a few weeks ago, coming from behind to beat Zimbabwe 19-14.

They’ll be looking to build on this success in the upcoming tournaments in Scotland (where, incidentally, Moldova will be playing for the first time) and England.

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Russia’s Rugby Union team have climbed back to the summit of the European Nations Cup table, after a hard fought 12-8 victory over Romania.

The win, secured only with two last-gasp penalties, sets up an thrilling winner takes all fight for the title next month, as Russia host old rivals Georgia.

Romania, traditionally a European rugby powerhouse, were never going to be an easy opponent. Lying third in the table, they trailed Russia and Georgia by just one point at the beginning of the match.

But, in front of 3,000 screaming fans at Krasnodar’s Stadium Junost, Russia kept their nerve and came from behind to edge past a determined and well drilled Romanian team.

Last gasp victory

After taking almost the entire game to grind out a 6-3 lead, Russia looked well placed to run down the clock and secure victory. But the Romanian players clearly hadn’t read the script.

With just 12 minutes left to play, a magnificent drive by Romania’s forwards put replacement Valentin Ursache in position to score from a maul. The conversion was missed but the try was enough to take Romania into a narrow 8-6 lead.

Suddenly finding themselves behind, and with the game almost over, the Russians finally kicked into high gear. Romania managed to resist Russia’s relentless attacking play for 8 more minutes, but two penalties in the last four minutes from Yuriy Kushnarev, Russia’s fly-half, gave Russia a last gasp victory.

Russia vs Georgia – winner takes all title fight

Russia now find themselves top of the European Nations Cup table, three points clear of old rivals Georgia.

Georgia have a game in hand and if, as expected, they beat Spain, the Lelos will go back to the top of the table on points difference to set up a thrilling climax to the European Nations Cup tournament on 12 April.

Russia, who lost 31-13 to Georgia in Tblisi last year will be the slight underdogs. Although Russia have risen to 16th in the world rankings - their highest ever - they are still two places behind the experienced Georgians. And Georgia, as some regular commenters will recall, came within a whisker of dumping Ireland out of this summer’s Rugby World Cup.

But with three consecutive wins under their belt, and thousands of home fans behind them, I wouldn’t bet against the Russian Bears winning their first major title.

Check back in a few weeks for a full match report…

(Image Credit: Russian Rugby Union).

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Tonight, for the first time in more than a decade, top-flight Russian football will be played in Grozny, capital of war-torn Chechnya.

Terek Grozny, the city’s professional football team won promotion to the Russian Premier League last year and, after years of playing in exile, have finally been granted permission to play their home games inside of Chechnya.

The match between hosts Terek Grozny and visitors Krylya Sovietov Samara has attracted so much attention that the match will even overshadow this weekend’s match between last year champions Zenit St Petersburg and runners up Spartak Moscow.

Excitement

To celebrate, Chechnya’s Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov has announced that tickets for the match will be free to home fans, who will be able to take their first look at the inside of Grozny’s rebuilt 10,300 seater stadium. He’s also promised that Chechen fans will show “the real meaning of Chechen hospitality.”

Terek fans might be celebrating, but Leonid Slutsky, the Samara coach doesn’t sound entirely convinced the decision to host games in Grozny was a good one, though.

“If the FA decided that Terek should play their home games in Grozny, then so be it. I just hope they don’t change their mind a few weeks later and we would be the only ones who had played in Grozny.”

Chechnya is safe

Samara’s travelling fans will understandably be nervous ahead of tonight’s game - two wars in 15 years and an ongoing low-level insurgency aren’t exactly reassuring.

But Vladimir Putin, Russia’s outgoing President, has a lot riding on this game, as bringing Chechnya back into Russian society has been one of the key promises underpinning his eight years at the top. Any trouble tonight would reflect badly on him.

The Guardian newspaper reports that the Kremlin put heavy pressure on the Russian FA to allow Terek to host home games in Grozny, and demonstate that peace and stability has returned to the one time rebel capital.

You can bet that the police and army will be out in force today, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov is confident that the game will go well.

“I can give a 100-percent guarantee that there are no terrorist threats here. I’m confident that the ability to see Premier League matches will be the most precious gift for our people.”

Terek’s Troubled History

Formed in 1946, disbanded in 1994, and re-formed in 2001, Terek Grozny have had a troubled history. But not a history entirely without success.

For much of the past two decades, Terek have been forced to play their home matches in exile, in Pyatigorsk. But since reforming in 2001, Terek have gone from strength to strength.

The high point of the club’s history surely came in 2004, when Terek Grozny stunned Samara to win the Russian Cup. The victory gave them a slot in European football’s prestigeous UEFA Cup. Sadly, after a qualifying round victory against Polish club Lech Poznan, Terek found the Swiss team FC Basel too strong for them in the first round.

2004 also saw Terek promoted to the Russian Premier League for the first time - an astounding feat for a club that was only in its fourth season since re-forming. Sadly the Premier League proved too tough for Terek during 2005, and they were relegated.

But two more seasons in the Russian First Division have given them the opportunity to build a solid, competitive side who, especially in front of their own fans, will be hoping to do stick around in the Premier League for quite some time.

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