Australian Adam Byrnes included into Russia’s preliminary squad for 2011 WC

The Russian Rugby Union (SRR) has announced the preliminary training squad of 50 players for the 2011 World Cup (RWC) in New Zealand. This World Cup will be the first showcase tournament for the Russian national team.

The squad will gather at its training camp in Sochi in July and each player will be intensely monitored until a smaller squad is selected to travel to England and Wales to play four preparation matches.

The squad will then return to Moscow to continue preparations before the final squad of 30 players selected to travel to New Zealand is announced on August 22. Russia will make its RWC 2011 debut against USA in New Plymouth on September 15.

The list of called-up players includes Sergey Sugrobov, Vladimir Botvinnikov, and Dmitry Gerasimov, who have all committed to representing their country on the highest stage despite not playing for the national team for some time.

There are also freshmen in the squad like Vladimir Boltenkov, Alexey Shcherban, Anton Ryabov, Grigory Tsnobiladze, Rushan Yagudin, Mikhail Sidorov, Denis Antonov and Vladimir Kondrashov, who all played less than 10 matches for the national team, as well as completely new talents, Denis Simplikevich and Nikolay Zaporzhin.

The stars of Russian rugby Kirill Kulyomin and Alexander Yanyushkin are both going through rehabilitation after injuries, their progress is reassuring and both are hopeful to be on the plane to New Zealand.

The most surprising member of the preliminary squad is the Australian Adam Byrnes, who currently plays super rugby for Melbourne Rebels and has previously played for Leinster. Adam has Russian origins and is said to be very excited with the opportunity to represent the country of his ancestors.

Preliminary Training Squad of Russian National Team for RWC 2011

Backs: Vasily Artemyev, Mikhail Babaev, Andrey Bykanov, Igor Galinovsky, Dmitry Gerasimov, Nikolay Zaporzhin, Igor Klyuchnikov, Vladimir Kondrashov, Alexey Korobeinikov, Andrey Kuzin, Yury Kushnaryov, Alexey Makovetsky, Vladimir Ostroushko, Konstantin Rachkov, Anton Ryabov, Denis Simplikevich, Sergey Sugrobov, Sergey Trishin, Alexander Shakirov, Alexey Shcherban, Rushan Yagudin, Alexander Yanyushkin.

Forwards: Adam Byrnes, Denis Antonov, Vladimir Boltenkov, Vladimir Botvinnikov, Alexander Voitov, Alexey Volkov, Andrey Garbuzov, Vyacheslav Grachov, Victor Gresev, Vladislav Korshunov, Kirill Kulyomin, Kirill Kushnaryov, Karlo Maglakelidze, Yevgeny Matveyev, Nikita Medkov, Andrey Ostrikov, Alexey Panasenko, Sergey Popov, Ivan Prishchepenko, Yevgeny Pronenko, Mikhail Sidorov, Andrey Temnov, Alexey Travkin, Artem Fatakhov, Alexander Khrokin, Valery Tsnobiladze, Grigory Tsnobiladze, Alexey Chernyshov.