While Russia’s football team have been stunning the football world with their performances in Euro 2008, Russia’s rugby team have been enduring a much rougher time in the 2008 IRB Nations Cup.

Russia finished bottom of the table, and went home with a great deal to think about.  Three defeats from three games against opposition of a roughly similar level can hardly be seen as anything but a disappointment, but a young and experimental Russian side showed enough potential throughout the tournament to leave the Russian team able to look to the future with some confidence.

Italy A were expected to be a class above Russia and their 38-15 victory didn’t come as much of a surprise.  Oddly enough, despite the high Italian scoreline, it was Russia’s defence that impressed most in this match - they certainly got plenty of practice.

The 13-12 defeat by Romania, though, will have hurt.  Russia finished above Romania in the recent European Nations Cup (Six Nations B), and had won their two previous encounters.  Home advantage for the Romanians, plus Russia’s inexperienced team made for an intriguing contest however, in which Russia’s attacking verve frustratingly failed to net them a single try.

Despite this, four penalties from the boot of scrum half Alexander Yanyuskin meant that Russia held a 12-6 lead with just over 10 minutes to play.  Romania saved their best for last, though, and a late try from hooker Florin Tasca sent Romania into the final match with a chance of winning the tournament outright, and sent a dejected Russia into a last match battle to avoid the wooden spoon.

The final match saw Russia’s tournament go from bad to worse when they were beaten 23-19 by Uraguay. Again, Russia led late in the game - in fact, they looked to be cruising with an 18-9 lead, and only five minutes left on the clock.  But Russia’s young team lost their composure - twice in quick succession Uraguay’s scrum overpowered the Russian forwards, who conceded two tries and handed victory to Uraguay, and the wooden spoon to Russia.

Perhaps most galling for Russia, though, will have been the performance of their biggest rival, Georgia, who pushed Emerging South Africa - the team of the tournament all the way before losing 11-3, and then absolutely crushed the Italy A team 25-3.  Remember - this is the Italy A team that had hammered Russia in the first match of the tournament and the Georgia team that only just scraped past Russia to win the European Nations Cup in April.

Although Russia can draw some positives from this tournament, the Georgian players will have gone home absolutely bursting with pride and well deserved confidence. They’ll be actively planning how they are going to challenge some of the more established international teams, such as Tonga and Samoa and, no doubt, they’ll also be plotting how they can pull off a shock or two in the next World Cup…

It’s been a fortnight of mixed fortune for Russia’s Rugby Sevens team as they played in tournaments in both England and Scotland.

At their best, Russia were magnificent - they tied with England in Edinburgh this weekend. However, at other times, the Russian Bear seemed rather slothful, losing to teams it should have easily beaten - notably Spain and Portugal.

Edinburgh - Russia tie with England

The high point of the two tournaments had to be Russia’s epic tie with England - a match that Russia came within a whisker of winning.

Russia dominated the first half, rumbling into a 12-0 lead at the break. An Engand recovery in the second half left Russia in the unenviable position of being 17-12 down, with only added time to play. But the Bears rose to the occasion yet again, and kept the ball in play long enough to score an equalising try at the death.

Sadly, they could not convert the try, and secure a victory that would have been regarded as one of the biggest shocks of the season.

The missed kick cost Russia dearly. Had they defeated England, they would have finished second in their group, and qualified for the quarter finals.

Instead, poor points difference meant that England made it through - and eventually finished as tournament runners up.

Russia had to content themselves with a place in the Bowl (the second string) quarter final, where they were absolutey trashed (38-0) by Argentina.

Being relegated yet further, to the Shield tournament clearly did not suit the Russian team. They struggled into the shield final with a 7-0 victory over Kenya, before losing to Portugal in the final.

London Tournament - Russia underperforms

By contrast to the Russian team’s mixed fortunes in Edinburgh, their performance in London was at least consistent. Consistently poor.

Thrashed 31-7 and 33-10 by Scotland and Samoa respectively, Russia’s only respite in the pool stages came with a hard fought 17-7 victory over Kenya.

More disappointment came the next day in the knockout stages. A hard fought 17-12 loss to Canada in the quarter finals of the Bowl (B) tournament, meant Russia were demoted yet again to the semi finals of the Shield (C) tournament. A 12-7 defeat by a Spain team that Russia should really have beaten meant the Bears went home empty handed from their first tournament of the summer.

Clearly, though, the disappointment fired them up for the England game the following week…!

Next Stop - International Nations Cup

Next up for Russia is the International Nations Cup, where the 15 man team will get the opportunity to test themselves against Italy A, Romania and Uraguay. The tourament gets underway next week - expect a full report later this month.

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.

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).