April meeting of the Supreme Council of the Rugby Federation

The Russian Rugby Federation is considering the possibility of organizing a friendly match of the national team in Volgograd and (or) Samara.

“In the fall, we plan to organize home friendly matches for the Russian national team, including with the participation of teams from South Africa, these can be clubs or the national team of South African clubs, since the main team cannot play with us due to sanctions. While this is being discussed, ”said Sergey Markov, sports director of the FRR, at a meeting of the Supreme Council of the FRR.

Also the Rugby Federation will create a franchise Russia A.

“The key point that World Rugby requires of us, and what we are striving for, is the creation of the Russia A franchise, for which funding is allocated. It is necessary to discuss this costly, but very useful event very well. This team must play official test matches. Rugby Europe and World Rugby also require franchises to qualify for European competition. I think that in the event of an increase in quotas, the second or third team from Russia should be a franchise with a focus on youth, ”Sergey Markov told reporters.

Members of the Supreme Council, head coaches of Yenisei-STM and VVA-Podmoskovye Alexander Pervukhin and Nikolai Nerush came up with an alternative proposal.

“At the moment, it makes no sense to throw young guys into the Russian championship, where they will play exclusively in defense and will not learn anything, and due to the tight calendar they will get injured. I now have eleven injured rugby players in the team on a weekly schedule. There will be a European Super Cup soon. What will happen to the young guys? Why shouldn’t Russia A play better in international test matches?”, suggested the coach of the Krasnoyarsk team.

“The Russian U20 team must play with stronger opponents than themselves. We need to redistribute money and invest in the future of Russian rugby. By creating the Russia A franchise, we will invest in it the budget, but take it from something less promising,” summed up Igor Artemiev, Chairman of the RDF Supreme Court.

At the last meeting of the Supreme Council of the Russian Rugby Federation, an agreement on cooperation was signed between the Russian Rugby Federation and the Federation of Computer Sports of Russia.

Dmitry Vyacheslavovich Smith, President of the Russian Computer Sports Federation: “I have a special relationship with rugby. When we created the Computer Sports Federation 23 years ago, I had a friend who played rugby. I invited him to our federation, but refused, because I was afraid of the negative reaction of the coach. I told him then: “We don’t play games with you, but we are engaged in the development of sports.” Then not everyone understood it. I am very glad that now the situation has changed. We have many interesting ideas and collaborations. I expect that they will bring us many interesting and unexpected discoveries.”

“We have been dreaming for a long time, including myself, to play rugby on electronic devices. Attracting young people to sports through games is a good and right step. Now you see that professional athletes play on the computer, thereby luring young people into sports. Against this background, you can come up with a large number of beautiful collaborations. And our coaches can use digital tools in their work,” summed up the meeting Igor Yuryevich Artemiev, President of the Russian Rugby Federation.

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo – Sergey Vinogradov.