Simplikevich boosts Russian team for Eagles

Powerhouse winger Denis Simplikevich will bolster the Russian lineup to face the Eagles at Bonney Field on Saturday. The 1.95m (6’5″) sevens star joins the team directly from the Monaco 7s, where his team failed to achieve their Olympic aspirations. Simplikevich is one of eight changes to the team that was overwhelmed by Canada in Calgary, including a completely changed front row.

The veteran trio Alexei Volkov, Evgeni Matveev, and Evgeni Pronenko are restored to shore up the scrum, while Pavel Butenko replaces injured Andrei Temnov on the flank. Rushan Yagudin replaces Alexei Shcherban at scrumhalf, and Kirill Golosnitskiy will make his test debut in the midfield, with Vladimir Rudenko out of the match day squad. Ramil Gaisin also returns from sevens duty to start at fullback.

Russia have never beaten the Eagles in six times of asking. In 2013 they lost by a score of 28-7 at Allianz Park in London, and their closest margin of defeat has been seven points on two occasions. The match kicks off at 7pm local time and will be streamed live on The Rugby Channel, and broadcast Sunday on CBS Sports at 6pm Pacific.

RUSSIA
1 Alexei Volkov 2 Evgeni Matveev 3 Evgeni Pronenko 4 Andrei Garbuzov 5 Denis Antonov 6 Viktor Gresev 7 Pavel Butenko 8 Anton Rudoi 9 Rushan Yagudin 10 Yuri Kushnarev 11 Vasili Artemiev (capt.) 12 Dimitri Gerasimov 13 Kirill Golosnitskiy 14 Denis Simplikevich 15 Ramil Gaisin

16 Nazir Gasanov 17 Azamat Bitiev 18 Vladimir Podrezov 19 Evgeni Elgin 20 Daniel Chegodaev 21 Alexei Shcherban 22 Evgeni Kolomiytsev 23 Anton Ryabov