Jones reveals his team for World Cup opener
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Russia coach Lyn Jones has named his team for the Pool A match against Japan at Tokyo Stadium on Friday, September 20.
The coach relied heavy on local talent, with Sale Sharks prop Valery Morozov and Grenoble lock Andrey Ostrikov the only players based outside Russia to make the starting line-up.
Ostrikov makes his World Cup debut in the no.4 jumper.
The side will be captained by fullback Vasily Artemyev, who featured in all four of Russia’s matches in the 2011 World Cup edition.
Other survivors of the 2011 World Cup squad, in the match-day 23 are Andrey Garbuzov, Victor Gresev and Vladimir Ostroushko.
日本代表との開幕戦を戦うロシア代表がメンバーを発表❗🇷🇺#JPNvRUS
9月20日（金）19:45キックオフ！@russiarugby #RWC2019 #RWC東京 pic.twitter.com/pVUumqwHXk
— ラグビーワールドカップ (@rugbyworldcupjp) September 18, 2019
Russia: 15 Vasily Artemyev (captain), 14 German Davydov, 13 Vladimir Ostroushko, 12 Dmitry Gerasimov, 11 Kirill Golosnitskiy, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Vasily Dorofeev, 8 Nikita Vavilin, 7 Tagir Gadzhiev, 6 Vitaly Zhivatov, 5 Bogdan Fedotko, 4 Andrey Ostrikov, 3 Kirill Gotovtsev, 2 Stanislav Selskii, 1 Valery Morozov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Andrei Polivalov, 18 Azamat Bitiev, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Anton Sychev, 21 Dmitry Perov, 22 Ramil Gaisin, 23 Vladislav Sozonov.
Date: Friday, September 20
Venue: Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Kick-off: 19.45 (10.45 GMT; 13.45 Russia [Moscow] time)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Matthew Carley (England)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
#RWC2019: Today, Team #RUS held our first training after moving to Tokyo, in the city of Musashino. Tomorrow, it’s the Captain’s Run and September 20 – into battle! 👊🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/qRS5JXQK5W
— Rugby Union Russia (@russiarugby) September 18, 2019
