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Only one team has emerged victorious from Russia on away trips to play Enisei-STM in the Challenge Cup to date and Round 2 puts last season semi-finalists
Only one team has emerged victorious from Russia on away trips to play Enisei-STM in the Challenge Cup to date and Round 2 puts last season semi-finalists, Newport Gwent Dragons, in the firing line.
Only one team has emerged victorious from Russia on away trips to play Enisei-STM in the Challenge Cu to date and Round 2 puts last season semi-finalists, Newport Gwent Dragons, in the firing line.Connacht managed to win 31-14 in Siberia in the historic first match played in Russia in Round 1 last season, but since then Brive, Newcastle Falcons and, last weekend, Worcester Warriors have all been beaten by the Russian club.
The difference this weekend is that Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones knows exactly what to expect as he returns to a country where he was the national coach for two years between 2012-14. He, at least, won’t be taking anything for granted when he takes his side on their 4,000 mile round trip.
The 12 hour journey to Krasnodar, where the game will be played at the Trud Stadium, will begin on Thursday and the team hope to be back on Sunday. Jones has recruited the help of his former Russian skipper Alexandr Voytov to hep iron out any local difficulties.
“Because they are out of their normal season it’s effectively like us being in a tournament in July and signing all the better Blues and Ospreys players to play for us. There will be players from Moscow, Krasniask, so we’re facing the better Russian players all in one group,” explained Jones.
“They have a Ukrainian second row who must be seven foot and they have a tight head prop who was an Olympic heavyweight wrestler and I now wish I had never converted into a prop.”
The Dragons ran in four tries to pick up a bonus-point win at Rodney Parade in their opening game against Brive and will want to stay on course for another trip into the knock-out phase by making it two wins in a row in Krasnodar.
Jones is set to give Phil Price and Lloyd Fairbrother a chance to start in the front row and will be hoping for a similar second half performance to that achieved against Brive last weekend.
“I think Lloyd’s scrum technique won't suit the Enisei team, they've got some big guys and Lloyd can be very difficult against that sort of opposition. It's a tactical decision because he can do a good job in the scrum – it's difficult for big guys with long backs to deal with him,” said Jones.
“Along with Phil Price and Rhys Buckley, we have to make sure take advantage of our lack of height because we can scrum low against them.”
Match Facts
- Newport Gwent Dragons are set for their first competitive match in Russia.
- The Dragons have won five of their last seven pool stage games on the road (L2).
- Enisei have won three of their four home ties in the Challenge Cup, losing only to Connacht in their first game in the competition last season.
- Enisei have restricted their opponents to 12 points or fewer in each of their last three home games in the Challenge Cup.
Newport Gwent Dragons know a home win over Worcester Warriors is vital if they are to have any hopes of reaching the latter stages of the European Rugby Challenge Cup. - 13/12/2016 11:34
Could we see the first Russian qualifiers in the knock-out phase of the Challenge Cup? Enisei-STM are in firm control of Pool 3 after picking up their first try bonus point with a convincing 38-18 win over the Dragons.
Enisei-STM took the field with a full quota of international players in their back line, including the 95-times capped Georgian World Cup centre David Kacharava, and had two more Russians caps and an Ukranian international up front. Dragons head coach Kingsley Jones, the former Russian coach, knew his side were in for a tough time, but still felt they would come out on top.
But the Russian's simply overpowered the Welsh region with their pick-and-go style and four of their tries came from close range. Hooker Stanislav Selskii got two of them and centre Dmitrii Gerasimov also got a brace.
It looks as though the expansion plans introduced by EPCR through their qualifying tournament for the Challenge Cup is starting to pay dividends. This was Enisei-STM’s fourth home win in five games to date.
The Dragons didn’t get off to the best of starts as outside half Angus O’Brien missed a fifth minute penalty and scrum half Charlie Davies had to be replaced by recent recruit Tavis Knoyle seven minutes later. That allowed home outside half Kushnarev to push his side ahead with a penalty of his own before the Dragons struck with the first of the game’s seven tries.
Pat Howard showed off his pace and power as he burst through the home defence to score midway through the opening period and O’Brien added the extras. Gerasimov then crossed for the first of his two tries and Kushnarev’s conversion regained the lead for the home side.
Sam Beard then rounded off some quick, clean phase play by the Dragons with a second try for the visitors, but O’Brien pushed his conversion wide. The Dragons’ lead was even shorter lived this time as they failed to deal with the re-start and were sent into the interval trailing 17-12 after Selskii drove over from close range for a try which Kushnarev once again improved.
Two successive penalties from O’Brien’s boot hoisted the Dragons into a 18-17 lead on the hour, but no sooner had they hit the front than they conceded a third try from a poor re-start reception. Selskii needed no second invitation to use his burrowing skills from close range and Kushnarev’s reliable boot made it 24-18.
The Dragons kept on playing all the rugby, but their adventure and lack of control cost them dearly in the end. The Russians finished with a flourish with further tries from Gerasimov and replacement Valery Morozov and two more Kushnarev conversions took his match tally to 13.
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