Russia take a bow at last in the ‘Cold War’ clash

Russia’s long-awaited rugby World Cup debut against the United States tomorrow will provide a massive boost for the sport back home, say team officials.

While the game is being billed as the Cold War match, the players are not buying into the marketing hype, preferring instead to concentrate on their job on the field.

“For us the game is not a political question,” hooker Vladislav Korshunov said. “For us, it’s just important to be here and take part at rugby World Cup.”

Russian team director Kingsley Jones agreed. He told reporters in New Plymouth ahead of the clash: “It’s huge. The eyes of the world are on the team. The match will be on the main TV channel. This can take the game in Russia to the next level. There’s huge interest. Hopefully it’ll spark younger generations to get involved in rugby because the potential in Russia is huge.”

Rugby has struggled for media exposure and commercial interest in Russia, but Jones said the fact deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov will attend the match indicated its importance.

“I suppose it says that it (rugby) is being taken seriously,” Jones said. “The deputy prime minister will add extra interest and Russia will be looking at this (saying), ‘this is serious’.”

Russia has also been awarded the International Rugby Board’s rugby sevens World Cup in 2013, while the introduction of the cut-down version of the sport in the Olympics programme in 2016 will also undoubtedly boost the sport’s appeal and exposure.

“We had three things that changed Russian rugby dramatically – that is rugby getting into the Olympics, qualifying for the rugby World Cup and winning the right to host the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2013,” Russian Rugby Union vice president Howard Thomas said.

“Those three factors are the perfect wave and Russian rugby has a lot of opportunities now to ride this wave. There is no doubt, as symbolised by this trip, that we have government support.”

While a Soviet Union team toured New Zealand in 1991, playing a New Zealand XV that included several All Blacks, Russia has never competed at a rugby World Cup, missing out on qualifying for the 1995 tournament in South Africa when they lost a crunch match to Romania. In 2003, they were banned from the tournament’s qualifying rounds because of three incorrectly registered South African-born players, while in 2007 they lost to Portugal, who made their debut at the global showcase in France. Finally, after 24 years of waiting, the debutants were left with the unfortunate stigma of being the final team to play a match at the tournament – and Jones said it has been difficult containing their excitement.