RUSSIA v GERMANY: Rugby Europe Championship, Division 1A

14.02.2015

Venue: Pforzheim

Referee: Cyril Marchat (France)

Preview
This is shaping to be the battle of the wooden spooners in this competition. It is early days yet but Germany showed against Georgia they are a long way from the leaders whilst Russia were outclassed by Spain last weekend.

Russia are without some of their leading players (see below) which could mean Germany has a chance of causing an upset.

Last Five Encounters
24.05.2014 Russia 31-29 in Hamburg (WCQ Europe R5 Playoff)
13.03.2010 Russia 48-11 in Sochi (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
02.05.2009 Russia 53-0 in Hanover (WCQ Europe R5; ENC 1)
16.04.2000 Russia 89-6 in Moscow (FIRA Div.B)
04.05.1994 Russia 67-5 in Bucharest (WCQ)

Tests between these two nations began in 1977. Germany’s only win against Russia (and as West Germany) was in 1981 when they defeated USSR 10-7 in Hanover.Since 1990 Russia has won all the tests.

Russia Last Five P 5, W 3, L 2
07.02.2015 v Spain L 20-48 in Madrid (REC 1A)
15.11.2014 v Hong Kong W 39-27 in Hong Kong
08.11.2014 v Hong Kong W 31-10 in Hong Kong
12.10.2014 v Uruguay L 27-36 in Montevideo (WCQ Repechage R2)
27.09.2014 v Uruguay W 22-21 in Krasnoyarsk (WCQ Repechage R2)

Germany Last Five P 5, W 2, L 3
02.07.2015 v Georgia L 8-64 in Tbilisi (REC 1A)
29.10.2014 v Namibia L 20-58 in Windhoek
24.05.2014 v Russia L 20-31 in Hamburg (WCQ Europe R5 Playoff)
10.05.2014 v Netherlands W 17-7 in Amsterdam (WCQ Europe R4 Playoff)
26.04.2014 v Sweden W 45-20 in Stockholm (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 1B)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table- Russia 19th, Germany 27th
Europe Table- Russia 10th, Germany 15th

IRB Ranking Points
Russia 64.12, Germany 56.32

Prediction: Germany by 6 points

Teams

Russia Squad
Denis Antonov (Remerciez-DSP)
Vasily Artemiev (Krasny Yar)
Mikhail Babaev (VVA-Moscou)
Alexander Bezverkhov (Ienisseï-STM)
Artem Fatakhov (VVA Sarrasins)
Ramil Gaisin (Ienisseï-STM)
Viktor Gresev (Krasny Yar)
Vladislav Korshunov ( VVA-Moscou)
Dmitry Krotov (Ienisseï-STM)
Igor Kurashov ("Ienisseï-STM")
Yuri Kushnarev (Ienisseï-STM)
Alexei Panasenko (VVA Sarrasins)
Anton Ryabov (Krasny Yar)
Sergey Sekisov (VVA-Moscou)
Stanislav Selskiy ( Ienisseï-STM)
Nicholas Serkov (Ienisseï-STM)
Alexey Shcherban (Ienisseï-STM)
Andrei Temnov (Ienisseï-STM)
Alexey Volkov (VVA Sarrasins)
Innocent Zykov (Ienisseï-STM)
Vladimir Rudenko (Krasny Yar)
Rushan Yagudin (Krasny Yar )
Paul Butenko (Ienisseï-STM)
Andrew Otrokov (Krasny Yar)

‘Russia lost prop Igretsov, lock Ostrikov, backs Galinovsky, Yanyushkin, Sergei Trishin and Igor Klyushnikov ! Clearly the squad is not better now.’

‘Olivier’ at http://t2rugby.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=384&start=75

Germany
1. Arthur Zeiler
2. Alexander Widiker
3. Damien Tussac
4. Robert Mohr
5. Michael Poppmeier
6. Kehoma Brenner
7. Robert Hittel
8. Alan Kessen
9. Sean Armstrong
10. Christopher Hilsenbeck
11. Hendrik van der Merwe
12. Paul Bosch
13. Clemens von Grumbkow
14. Mark Sztyndera
15. Steffen Liebig
16. Mikail Tyumenev
17. Robert May
18. Matthias Schösser
19. Christopher Howells
20. Falk Duwe
21. Tim Menzel
22. Marten Strauch
23. Jeremy Te Huia

https://twitter.com/DRVRugby/status/566276213019533312/photo/1