Connacht A.
1 Finlay Bealham, 2 Kevin O’Byrne, 3 Rodney Ah You, 4 Conor Kindregan, 5 Danny Qualter, 6 Aaron Conneely, 7 Eoghan Grace, 8 Brian Moylett, 9 Paul O’Donohoe (C), 10 Jack Carty, 11 James Loxton, 12 Dave McSharry, 13 Finn Gormley, 14 Conor Finn, 15 Shane Layden.
Replacements/remplaçants : 16 Stevie Collins, 17 Denis Buckley, 18 Dylan Rogers, 19 James Connolly, 20 Luke Satchwell, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Michael O’Flynn, 23 Conor Fitzgibbon

1 try/essai : Conor Finn

Enisey-STM
1.Sergey Novoselov, 2.Valery Tsnobiladze, 3.Dumitru Arhip, 4.Uldis Sautile, 5.Victor Arhip, 6.Andrey Temnov, 7.Anton Rudoy, 8.Vitaly Orlov; 9.Julris Baranovs, 10.Ryan Bambry, 11.Pavel Novikov, 12.Yarosloav Rechnev, 13.Dimitri Gerasimov, 14.Denis Simplikevich 15.Igor Kurashov
Replacements/remplaçants : Alexander Bezverkhov, Stanislav Sel’skij, Evgeny Pronenko, Rati Urushadze, Innokenty Zykov, Nikolay Serkov, Alex Shcherban, Alexey Korobeinikov, Yaroslav Gysin, Yuri Gostyuzhev.

5 tries/essais : Andrey Temnov (2), Denis Simplikevich, Anton Rudoy, Rati Urushadze
5 conversion/transformation : Ryan Bambry (5)

Evolution : 0-7, 0-14, 0-21 (HT), 5-21, 5-28, 5-35

from my blog : estrugby.wordpress.com/

Of course they want!
but ERC says no because weather, jet lag, price of travels...

The russian championship (10 clubs), have approx a division 3 level (like french Federale1 or english ND1), but 3 of these clubs (i call these clubs the big 3) have a budget between 2 and 4 M€ (but a half is eaten by travels : Moscow-Krasnoyarsk=4600km) , and they have the level to compete in Amlin Cup.

These clubs are :
<strong>VVA Podmoskovye (based in Monino, Moscow)</strong>
Champions in 1993, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. 3d in 2011
Like Leinster, 14 players from the club were in 2011 RWC. But since the RWC, they have lost the 3 best players : Artemyev to Northampton, Korshunov and Gresev to Wasps (+ last year Cobilas to Sale and Navickas to Natal Sharks U20).
Now approx 1/3 of the national team is from VVA. They also have 3 ukrainians who have played 6 Nations B, including a victory against Portugal. They also have 2 moldovan internationals.
Last month they lost against Northampton Wanderers (Northampton A) 36-14 and Sale Jets (Sale A) 27-19. But on the starting XV of Sale, 11 players played in Premiership this season including Wame Lewaravu, Lee Imiolek , Onosai Auva`a, Joaquin Tuculet, and Will Addison. Northampton have also some Premiership players like Vasily Artemyev, Jon Clarke, Greig Tonks ...

<strong>Krasny Yar (Krasnoyarsk, Siberia)</strong>
Champions in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 200, 2001. 2d in 2011.
The team have 5 NZ players, including SH Toby Morland (42 SuperRugby games in 7 seasons for Highlanders, Chiefs and Blues. He also played 4 games for Munster as medical joker of O'Leary), FB Glenn Horton (21 games for Highlanders, and NZ Maori capped) and John Dodd and Glen Gregory, who have played in ITM Cup. The team have 4 RWC players and youngs interesting players (russian capped or without doubt future russian capped). They also have 2 moldovan internationals.
On the pre-season, they won all games against NZ clubs from Canterbury province, + a game against Malborough Rugby Union (ITM Cup second division - Krasny Yar won 48-18) + a game against Crusaders Development XV (won 27-14)

<strong>Enisey-STM (Krasnoyarsk, Siberia)</strong>
Champions in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2011
The team have 4 RWC players, but also have good foreign players like former Highlanders FH Ryan Bambry, lock Rati Urushadze (41 caps for Georgia), and international players from Moldova, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Latvia. Of course these countries are'nt big rugby countries but these players are the better players of these countries.

Often, the russian big 3 won others teams by margins from +40 to +100 pts, so they need to play good teams to really improve!

Would genuinely like to see the Russian sides push forward for the Challenge Cup. There seems to be a great hunger for rugby in pockets such as Krasnayorsk.

Obviously logistically it would be a problem for the ERC but it could be workable and would help them develop. Obviously given the climate they may need to find a base in Eastern Europe for their home games.

Having seen a bit of them Saturday and last year, they are more than capable of being competitive at Challenge Cup Level. For example, I'd much rather have their tight head on our books than our starting tight head last Saturday.

croket do you know if there is a desire within Enisei to enter the European Challenge Cup or would it be too difficult to manage in terms of costs, travel and so forth?

Thanks for the information about the game croket !!!
Welcome.

Hi!
Some infos about this game
Enisey won 35-5 (5 tries to 1)
Enisey tries were scored by
Andrey Temnov (2 tries)
Rati Urushadze (41 caps for Georgia)
Kazakh star Anton Rudoy
And young Denis Simplikevich, who have scored a try against Ireland in 2011 RWC

Temnov and Rudoy are backrow, Urushadze is a lock so i assume Connacht forwards were in difficulty

These 5 tries were converted by former Highlanders fly half Ryan Bambry, who have also played in AIB League

Now Enisey want play against Connacht full team next year

They plays against Munster Dev 15 tomorrow

Ps : i know my english is far to be perfect, i hope you understand me. If you have some questions, just ask

Pity about the result,

the B&I cup should increance experience and result in better results in the coming year

35-5 to Enisei at full time. Conor Finn with the Connacht A try. Anyone have more details on this?

Anyone have a score on this? called in to it for 20 minutes or so in the first half but had to head again, in that time the Russians ran in a couple of handy trys and were as I expected going to town on us in the scrum. Saw them last year too they are a decent side. It was Marmion starting at scrum half rather then O'Donohue in as far as I could see.

To be honest I think its a really nice mix of experience and youth thrown together. The backline are very young but the pack is strong enough to give them a good platform to play some attacking ball.

Luke Satchwell from Kildare, Family been holidaying in Mayo for Years and Years!!

simpleton wrote: These games have been important in deciding who gets contracts in previous years so it may be less about pecking order and more about looking at players who havent featured much. Mcsharry took his chance in this fixture last season and was signed on the back of it.
Is satchwell from Connacht? He's an 8 I think.

Plays for Buccs, went to Kings Hospital school and played Leinster & Ireland Schools in Euro Champs last season...

These games have been important in deciding who gets contracts in previous years so it may be less about pecking order and more about looking at players who havent featured much. Mcsharry took his chance in this fixture last season and was signed on the back of it.
Is satchwell from Connacht? He's an 8 I think.

Surprised not to see Callum O'Connell in the squad after being in the u'20 6 nations squad.
Great to see Loxton back hopefully his injury is behind him now.

Yeah I thought that was a bit of a strange one with Moore. If POD needs the game time surely the case for Dave getting the bench had to be equally as strong. Pleased to see Marmion involved all the same.

The Buckley / Bealham decision is another really tight call. I have to say I have been massively impressed with Buckley when he has come on the couple of times for us but now he seems to have been usurped by Bealham in the pecking order for the loosehead spot. Just felt like he was making some real progress but now that has taken a bit backward step. 100% confidence in MacFarland's decisions though.

Connacht Rugby have announced the ‘A’ team that will face Russian outfit Enisey-STM in the Sportsground this Saturday.

BM SL JC STMAs Connacht gear up to compete in next seasons British & Irish Cup the ‘A’ team have been busy completing a number of fixtures in the last couple of months and this weekend sees the return of the 2011 Russian title holders to the Sportsground. Founded in 1975 the four times professional league champions are based in Krasnoiarsk in the heart of Siberia. Their name stems from the Enisey river, one of the largest in Russia and the STM is an abbreviation of the Siberian Heavy Engineering Plant earning the team the nickname ‘Heavy Machine’

This will be the third year running that the Connacht ‘A’ team has faced the Russian opposition with Connacht taking the spoils last April and this year sees Connacht name one of the strongest ‘A’ sides yet. Senior players McSharry, Ah You, O’Donohoe and Grace will join the best of the youth and academy set-ups with the likes of Shane Layden, Aaron Conneely and Conor Finn lining out to form the potent blend of youth and experience.

Connacht ‘A’ to face Enisey-STM (The Sportsground – Saturday 7th April ko 1.00pm)

15 Shane Layden

14 Conor Finn

13 Finn Gormley

12 Dave McSharry

11 James Loxton

10 Jack Carty

09 Paul O’Donohoe (C)

01 Finlay Bealham

02 Kevin O’Byrne

03 Rodney Ah You

04 Conor Kindregan

05 Danny Qualter

06 Aaron Conneely

07 Eoghan Grace

08 Brian Moylett



16 Stevie Collins

17 Denis Buckley

18 Dylan Rogers

19 James Connolly

20 Luke Satchwell

21 Kieran Marmion

22 Michael O’Flynn

23 Conor Fitzgibbon

Kinda surprised that Dave Moore isn't in there at all, while at the same time it's good to see Marmion on the bench.