Match Preview – USA vs Russia

The US Eagles roll out the welcome mat for the Russian Bears on Saturday with the Cold War Classic set to take place at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Denver, just 20 miles from the USA Rugby offices in Lafayette. Head coach Gary Gold will be keen for his charges to make an impression on his new employers, and has selected a powerful side to welcome their fellow World Cup competitors.

It’s an entirely professional USA outfit, supplemented heavily by the new American domestic competition. A dozen Major League Rugby representatives are named in the match day squad with flying in from Europe and two from Australia. Notable absentees are few – Titi Lamositele sits out and Dino Waldren has undergone shoulder surgery, while Tony Lamborn and David Tameilau have only recently withdrawn from the squad. Thretton Palamo continues to recover from an ongoing foot problem and Mike Te’o is struggling with a bad knee.

There is just one new face in the side in the form of Houston SaberCats tighthead prop Paul Mullen. He will pack down two seasoned international campaigners in Joe Taufete’e and Eric Fry in the front row, the latter returning to test duty for the first time since November 2016 after struggling with injuries since.

Toulon destroyer Samu Manoa will pack down in the second row where he is partnered by lineout surgeon Nick Civetta. With Tony Lamborn unavailable it’s local favorite John Quill who packs down on the flank along with the in-form Hanco Germishuys. Cam Dolan wears the No8 shirt as he has done in all five Eagles matches this year, one of only two players to start in each.

Bryce Campbell is the other and he continues an imposing midfield partnership with Utah juggernaut Paul Lasike. The latter’s selection means that Marcel Brache will start on the wing for the first time in a test match, and three European pros bolster the backs division. AJ MacGinty is in his familiar No10 shirt, Blaine Scully captains on the right wing, and Bedford Blues flyhalf Will Hooley starts at the unfamiliar position of fullback.

Among the replacements are Leicester prop Chris Baumann and Glasgow Warriors lock Greg Peterson. Soon-to-be Ealing lock Ben Landry looks to be a loose forward reserve, and Americas Rugby Championship captain Nate Augspurger has to settle for an impact sub role, capable of playing either scrumhalf or wing.

Russia will field an entirely home-based side, with 11 players selected from European competitors Enisei STM. Their route to World Cup qualification has been fraught with controversy but their presence is now written in stone – they will be traveling to Tokyo next year. Their tournament preparations officially begins now with a two-match trip to North America.

Interim coach Mark McDermott is in the running for the permanent position and has summoned his strongest available side with the most notable names missing imposing lock Andrei Ostrikov, a teammate of MacGinty at Sale Sharks, and loose forward Viktor Gresev, formerly of Wasps. A handful of backs who might otherwise have been in contention are currently left preparing for the Rugby World Cup Sevens, among them powerful wingers German Davydov and Denis Simplikevich.

Russian rugby is typically associated with strong forward play but the starting Bears pack has four players under the age of 25, including flankers Nikita Vavilin and Tagir Gadzhiev. The former is an athletic and powerful breakaway winning just his second cap, the latter a bruising blindside who has forced his way into the first choice team. Anton Rudoi is the old man of the side at 35 but remains an imposing presence at No8, and Evgeny Pronenko adds his 52-caps worth of experience at tighthead prop.

It’s the backs, however, who boast the most experience. Five have more caps than Pronenko with flyhalf Yuri Kushnarev set to win his 98th for his country. Sergei Trishin and Dmitri Gerasimov partner in the midfield for the fourth straight match and former Northampton Saints and Leinster Academy product Vasili Artemiev leads the team from fullback. If there is a surprise selection it’s that of Konstantin Uzunov, who gets the nod at scrumhalf for the first time this year ahead of incumbent Vasili Dorofeev.

The bench features a mix of old timers – Evgeny Matveev and Andrei Garbuzov – and three newcomers, one uncapped. Anton Drozdov is set to debut as a replacement tighthead with hard-running midfielder Kirill Golosnitskiy ready to be unleashed for just the third time. Alexander Budychenko is a versatile player who has already won eight caps at the age of 20.

Of the seven previous meetings between the two sides the USA has emerged victorious each time. That alone is enough to declare them considerable favorites, and the strength of their side suggests it will be more of the same.

This is not a typical Russian tourist side, however. There is vast experience out wide and a some wily veterans up front. One does get the feeling this is a team in transition, however, and short of some of their most dynamic attackers it seems unlikely they’ll have the firepower to challenge an Eagles time very much on the rise.

Kickoff is set for 6pm local time, 5pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern. Those in the USA can watch live on The Rugby Channel or FloRugby. International viewers can access a live stream on the official Rugby Russia site.

USA
1 Eric Fry, 2 Joe Taufete’e, 3 Paul Mullen, 4 Samu Manoa, 5 Nick Civetta, 6 John Quill, 7 Hanco Germishuys, 8 Cam Dolan, 9 Shaun Davies, 10 AJ MacGinty, 11 Marcel Brache, 12 Paul Lasike, 13 Bryce Campbell, 14 Blaine Scully (capt.), 15 Will Hooley

Replacements: 16 James Hilterbrand, 17 Olive Kilifi, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Greg Peterson, 20 Ben Landry, 21 Nate Augspurger, 22 Will Magie, 23 Dylan Audsley

RUSSIA
1 Valeri Morozov, 2 Stanislav Selskiy, 3 Evgeny Pronenko, 4 Bogdan Fedotko, 5 Evgeny Elgin, 6 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 8 Anton Rudoi, 9 Konstantin Uzunov, 10 Yuri Kushnarev, 11 Alexei Mikhaltsov, 12 Sergei Trishin, 13 Dmitri Gerasimov, 14 Mikhail Babaev, 15 Vasili Artemiev (capt.)

Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Sergei Sekisov, 18 Anton Drozdov, 19 Andrei Garbuzov, 20 Dmitri Krotov, 21 Vasili Dorofeev, 22 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 23 Alexander Budychenko

Date: Saturday, June 9
Venue: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Denver
Kickoff: 18:00 local (17:00 Pacific, 21:00 Eastern)
Referee: Federico Anselmi (UAR)
Assistants: Frank Murphy (IRFU) & Ben Whitehouse (WRU)
TMO: David Grashoff (RFU)
Broadcasts: The Rugby Channel, FloRugby, Rugby Russia Stream