Glad to hear its a rugby city and stand corrected.

connemara man wrote: Is it wrong I'm genuinely worried about this match. Like I mean proper banana skin!

Well away from home ie jetlag.
Extreme weather conditions.
Hostile crowd.
Different diet.
Possible new partnerships

Dunnow why I just have an uneasy feeling

I'm glad that people are uneasy. Anyone under the illusion that this will be a relatively comfortable victory is I believe mistaken. Anyone who has seen Enesei play the Eagles in recent years knows they deserve respect. Add in the conditions over there, the fact this is their first game where they will be out to prove a point buoyed by a massive support and the fact it won't be our strongest team and its going to be a tough outing.

Having said that It looks like we have put in good ground work into preparing for this game logistically which is a major part of things. It isn't a trip completely into the unknown as we have good experience of facing them and the fact that a few experienced bodies have been brought over will help. There is a question as to why John Muldoon was brought but he was in the team for the defeats to Catania and Cavalieri in the past so having him around should help lads keep focused on the job at hand. I'd gladly rest him for Brive next weekend. Glad to see Bundee travelling, this isn't the game for a lightweight midfield.

Its hard to truly know Enesei's level but I'd take Bucharest as a reasonable barometer. They are always very competitive at home, they don't often take big scalps but are usually in the hunt coming into the final quarter when at home. This is definitely a game where we'll have to play the percentages early on, get our new combinations settled and hopefully start to pull away as the match progresses.

mikey wrote: I've been thinking along those lines too....not a traditional rugby town,and may well have a soccer element to support the " local" lads,who may make Milwall FC supporters look like choir boys..." Nobody likes us and we don't care!" :woohoo:
I just hope I'm wrong.

Infairness, Krasnoyarsk is a rugby city

Howard Thomas, the executive vice-president of the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR), says: "It is the heartbeat of rugby in Russia, it is the number one sport in that region. If I was to liken Russia to England, Krasnoyarsk is like our Leicester and Northampton area where rugby is ingrained into that region and people there are all rugby people. Rugby is embedded in the culture in Krasnoyarsk."

And an article from way back :

I always look on Krasnoyarsk as the Limerick of Russia," says Kevin Moloney, a stalwart of the Moscow Dragons club and formerly the head of Guinness in Russia, who toured the region two years ago. "It's the only true rugby city in Russia. It's a tough industrial town but the inhabitants are high spirited and welcoming.

Speaking of Moscow rugby fans, some do love the auld flares:

connemara man wrote: Is it wrong I'm genuinely worried about this match. Like I mean proper banana skin!

Well away from home ie jetlag.
Extreme weather conditions.
Hostile crowd.
Different diet.
Possible new partnerships

Dunnow why I just have an uneasy feeling

I've been thinking along those lines too....not a traditional rugby town,and may well have a soccer element to support the " local" lads,who may make Milwall FC supporters look like choir boys..." Nobody likes us and we don't care!" :woohoo:
I just hope I'm wrong.

sea_point wrote: Just been checking the Krasnoyarsk temperatures, and low on Saturday is -24°C, and 26°C on the Sunday with highs of -16°C.... :ohmy:

www.timeanddate.com/weather/russia/krasnoyarsk/ext

This is where all those years of training at the Sportsground in the Pre Clan Terrace years pay out......

Yep...and in those days a good few of the current squad were in nappies ....and not only that,"The Clan Terrace" was a lonely place,with more players sitting in the dugouts watching the match than supporters in the terrace.

Is it wrong I'm genuinely worried about this match. Like I mean proper banana skin!

Well away from home ie jetlag.
Extreme weather conditions.
Hostile crowd.
Different diet.
Possible new partnerships

Dunnow why I just have an uneasy feeling

sea_point wrote: Just been checking the Krasnoyarsk temperatures, and low on Saturday is -24°C, and 26°C on the Sunday with highs of -16°C.... :ohmy:

www.timeanddate.com/weather/russia/krasnoyarsk/ext

This is where all those years of training at the Sportsground in the Pre Clan Terrace years pay out......

No wind or rain though, which is good news as we haven't liked those for about five years now.

Just been checking the Krasnoyarsk temperatures, and low on Saturday is -24°C, and 26°C on the Sunday with highs of -16°C.... :ohmy:

www.timeanddate.com/weather/russia/krasnoyarsk/ext

This is where all those years of training at the Sportsground in the Pre Clan Terrace years pay out......

pinky wrote:

sea_point wrote: Apparently there is a feed for the game, so for those of you who get frustrated with TG4 as Gaeilge, good luck...

news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta/regbi/spbvi...Konnaht_Kubok_Vyzova

Don't forget, 8AM kick off our time....

Has anyone been able to check if this is IP blocked or anything?

I went to its and am getting a countdown clock for the game, so seems to be working grand, but if that changes I've hola downloaded on chrome so hopefully that will work if they block it.

with things like this from Russia, I doubt there'll be any geo blocking

sea_point wrote: Apparently there is a feed for the game, so for those of you who get frustrated with TG4 as Gaeilge, good luck...

news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sporta/regbi/spbvi...Konnaht_Kubok_Vyzova

Don't forget, 8AM kick off our time....

Has anyone been able to check if this is IP blocked or anything?

phatguerilla wrote: This is my concern as well, we've lost players to winter bugs and warm up injuries in the past, but the alternative is bringing extra bodies for no reason who will need to be fresh the following week.

Add to that the fact that it's kinda unknown territory both in terms of weather and timezone adjustment, so you might have a couple of good players who are performing well below par in training. From that point of view it'd be better to have a few more bodies on the plane. There'll be no replacements flown out I'd say!
Then again of course you have to have a few lads still adjusted to this timezone for the Brive game. We should have negotiated a couple of extra squad members with the EPCR as part of the Krasnoyarsk deal.

We can take bets on the first player to doze off on the bench.

RogueXV wrote: Seems plausible enough but I would think an official rest week would be across the board but I wouldn't expect Leinster to be without Sexton or any other fit player this weekend. Is the IRFU deciding which games are important for each Province? Maybe the Russians denied their requests for Visas.

As I recall last season Pat requested the IRFU to swap one of the rest weeks for Connacht's internationals to a Challenge Cup weekend so they'd be available for more of the Pro12, so I presume something similar happened this time.

salmson wrote:

Evil_g wrote: Why is Henshaw recorded as "unavailable"?

Marmion and TOH are in the unavailable list too, despite not being injured, whereas McKeon, Masterson etc. are not. Perhaps this is an official rest week for them under the international player welfare programme. If so, that's good news for TOH.

Seems plausible enough but I would think an official rest week would be across the board but I wouldn't expect Leinster to be without Sexton or any other fit player this weekend. Is the IRFU deciding which games are important for each Province? Maybe the Russians denied their requests for Visas.

Then it might behoove all the Clan members making the trip to bring along their boots. Your Province may need you.

pinky wrote:

swift4prez wrote: a 24-man Connacht Rugby squad

That doesn't leave much margin for error.
After a couple of days training in the cold, we could be starting without a full bench.

This is my concern as well, we've lost players to winter bugs and warm up injuries in the past, but the alternative is bringing extra bodies for no reason who will need to be fresh the following week.