Northampton 54-19 Russia

A crowd of nearly 6,500 saw a determined Bears lose the first match of their UK tour to Heineken Cup runners-up Northampton Saints in the English East Midlands on Friday evening. The Saints, who were also English Premiership semi-finalists last year, fielded two completely different teams for each half, with each featuring full internationals and a wealth of European experience.
The Bears showed their pride and team spirit right from the off, when a technical glitch saw the PA system go down during the anthem, the players belted it out with gusto, winning standing applause from the crowd. The Russians continued to entertain throughout, relying on the flowing moves and counterattacking that has become their trademark. However, they sound found themselves 7-0 down after World Cup referee Wayne Barnes awarded a penalty after a succession of penalties at a five-metre scrum.
It didn't take the Russians long to hit back, with a flourishing attack ending with Andrey Kuzin touching down in the corner for his 25th try in Russian colours. However, shortly after Mikhail Sidorov was sin-binned for preventing a quick tap penalty and the Saints exploited their numerical advantage scoring three tries in quick succession before the flanker made his way back onto the field. His return settled the Bears down and the team was rewarded when lock Denis Antonov burst through several tackles from close range to score his debut try for Russia and end the first half scoring at 26:12 to the hosts.
Northampton changed their entire fifteen for the second half, bringing on players including hard scrummaging Springbok prop Brian Mujati and Ireland's Roger Wilson. After conceding an early score, the Bears tightened their defence and held their line for 20 minutes before Saints' captain Calum Clarke scored their sixth try of the evening. Again though, Russia responded well and as he fly-hacked a wayward ball up the pitch, Sergey Sugrobov was taken out off the ball, with a penalty try the call. The Saints showed their fitness, having been on the pitch half the time, and scored two late tries to leave the final score 54:19.
The Bears will have learnt a lot playing against one of the best sides in Europe and under a world class referee. They now move to Wales for the second week of their tour, which they begin with a trip to the Wales vs. England game at the Millennium Stadium. Russia then faces Newport went Dragons on August 16 and Ospreys in Swansea on August 21, before moving back to England to play Gloucester on August 26.
Final score: 54:19

FIRST HALF
15 Greig TONKS
14 Scott ARMSTRONG
13 Jon CLARKE
12 Tom STEPHENSON
11 Anders MOGENSEN
10 Ryan LAMB
9 Martin ROBERTS
1 Alex WALLER
2 Mike HAYWOOD (Andy LONG 30mins)
3 Paul DORAN-JONES
4 Samu MANOA
5 Tom HICKS
6 Sam FARMER
7 Phil DOWSON (capt)
8 Adam EUSTACE

SECOND HALF
15 Cesar SEMPERE
14 Noah CATO
13 Paul DIGGIN
12 Tom MAY
11 Charlie SADLER
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Stuart COMMINS
1 Tom MERCEY
2 Andy LONG (Brett SHARMAN 50mins)
3 Brian MUJATI (Ben PRESCOTT 70mins)
4 James CRAIG
5 Mark SORENSON
6 Calum CLARK (capt)
7 Ben NUTLEY
8 Roger WILSON

Russia Lineup
15 Igor KLYUCHNIKOV
14 Vasily ARTEMYEV
13 Mikhail BABAEV
12 Alexey MAKOVETSKY
11 Andrey KUZIN
10 Yury KUSHNAREV
9 Alexander SHAKIROV
1 Sergey POPOV
2 Vladislav KORSHUNOV
3 Ivan PRISCHEPENKO
4 Alexander VOYTOV
5 Denis ANTONOV
6 Mikhail SIDOROV
7 Artem FATAKHOV
8 Victor GRESEV
16 Evgeny MATVEEV
17 Alexander KHROKIN
18 Alexey TRAVKIN
19 Andrey GARBUZOV
20 Andrey BYKANOV
21 Sergey SUGROBOV
22 Sergey TRISHIN
# Andrey TEMNOV
## Igor GALINOVSKY

Referee:
Wayne Barnes

Attendance:
6,227

Timeline:
10mins SAINTS Try Penalty Con Lamb 7-0
12mins RUS Try Kuzin 7-5
15mins RUS Yellow Sidorov
16mins SAINTS Try Manoa Con Lamb 14-5
21mins SAINTS Try Mogensen 19-5
24mins SAINTS Try Dowson Con Lamb 26-5
38mins RUS Miss pen Klyuchnikov
40mins RUS Try Antonov Con Klyuchnikov 26-12
HALF-TIME SAINTS 26 RUSSIA 12
41mins SAINTS Try Sempere Con Myler 33-12
62mins SAINTS Try Clark Con Myler 40-12
67mins RUS Try Penalty Con Klyuchnikov 40-19
76mins SAINTS Try Sadler Con Myler 47-19
80mins SAINTS Try Sorenson Con Myler 54-19

FULL-TIME SAINTS 54 RUSSIA 19

Russia names team for Newport Gwent Dragons
On August 13, the Russian national rugby team moved from Northampton to the capital of Wales, Cardiff, where they were part of the 73,000 crowd which watched the Welsh beat England in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
The Bears will play two games in Wales themselves, the first against Newport Gwent Dragons on Tuesday August 16 at 19:00 local time. The game will take place at Rodney Parade and will be the first time the Welsh region have played an international side.
There are wholesale changes to the team which went down 54:19 to Northampton Saints on Friday.
In the front row, Enisey-STM prop Vladimir Botvinnikov packs down with Novokuznetsk hooker Valeriy Tsnobiladze and VVA-Podmoskovye tight-head Alexander Khrokin. Alexander Voytov and Denis Antonov both retain their places in the second row, while an all-new backs sees Kirill Kushnarev, Andrey Garbuzov and Viatcheslav Grachev named as starters.
At half-back, another France-based player, Konstantin Rachkov starts at fly-half with Slava Moscow's Andrey Bykanov at scrum-half. Sergey Trishin lines up outside Igor Galinovsky in the centres, while an experimental selection in the back three sees Igor Klyuchnikov move to wing, Yury Kushnarev start at full-back, and Denis Simplikevich starts his first game for the national team on the right wing.
Starting line-up vs. Newport Gwent Dragons:
15. Yury Kushnarev - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
14. Denis Simplikevich - Enisey-STM (Krasnoyarsk)
13. Sergey Trishin - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
12. Igor Galinovsky -Krasniy Yar (Krasnoyarsk)
11. Igor Klyuchnikov - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
10. Konstantin Rachkov - Stade Phoceen (France)
9. Andrey Bykanov - Slava-ShVSM (Moscow)
1. Vladimir Botvinnikov - Enisey-STM (Krasnoyarsk)
2. Valeriy Tsnobiladze - Novokuznetsk (Novokuznetsk)
3. Alexander Khrokin - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
4. Alexander Voytov - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
5. Denis Antonov - Slava-ShVSM (Moscow)
6. Kirill Kushnarev - VVA-Podmoskovye (Monino)
7. Andrey Garbuzov -Krasniy Yar (Krasnoyarsk)
8. Viatcheslav Grachev - Bizanos (France)
Substitutes from:
Evgeny Matveev, Alexey Travkin, Kirill Kopeshkin, Andrey Temnov, Artem Fatakhov, Alexander Yanyushkin, Sergey Sugrobov, Mikhail Babaev, Andrey Kuzin