RWC: Russia v Samoa (Pool A)
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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.
Reserves: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Andrei Polivalov, 18 Azamat Bitiev, 19 Andrey Garbuzov, 20 Anton Sychev, 21 Dmitry Perov, 22 Ramil Gaisin, 23 Vladislav Sozonov.
Russia has set itself up to be plucked by Samoa in the Rugby World Cup on Tuesday in the Bears' first match against a Pacific Islands side. The Russians haven't met Samoa, Fiji or Tonga before, but they have seemingly hindered themselves at their first chance. Given only a four-day turnaround, Russia surprisingly picked the same side which lost to Japan in the tournament opener last Friday. That's the same side which started blowing against Japan in the third quarter, according to 95-cap reserve lock Andrey Garbuzov, and went on to lose 30-10. "We got tired by the 50th minute," Garbuzov said. "Probably, it was worth making more substitutions between minutes 50 and 60, but it's up to coaches to decide on that." Russia coach Lyn Jones admitted after the Japan match they needed fresh legs, but he decided the same 23 players can handle a fresh Samoa. "Everybody played really well and deserved an opportunity against Samoa," Jones said. Loosehead prop Valery Morozov has a twisted ankle and will need to pass a fitness test on Monday. -
Wow they have picked the exact same side. Hopefully they will be better with the run. The openside will need a lot more help than he got in the Japan match.
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@ACT-Crusader tactically they were poor...looked like they thought, hey if we box kick all day we will play like NZ/Ire/SA/Eng....
They kicked so much ball away!!
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Probably the best side Samoa could put out but I'm a bit iffy on Vui at 6 as I would prefer Fa'asalele there instead. Happy to see Amosa at 8 but I think Ioane will go back there once Lam returns. A shame that Malolua got injured but Polataivao has always played well in Samoa colours.
Providing Samoa get away unscathed here, it could be all on against Scotland.
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@African-Monkey said in RWC: Russia v Samoa (Pool A):
Probably the best side Samoa could put out but I'm a bit iffy on Vui at 6 as I would prefer Fa'asalele there instead. Happy to see Amosa at 8 but I think Ioane will go back there once Lam returns. A shame that Malolua got injured but Polataivao has always played well in Samoa colours.
Providing Samoa get away unscathed here, it could be all on against Scotland.
I think the Lam/TJ combo works quite well.
Goes to show how few tests Samoa play as Tusi Pisi has been around for eons and only played 40 odd tests.
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@ACT-Crusader Yeah I like Amosa a lot, but Ioane is the frontrunner at 8 which I have no problems with. You could play them both, but it would leave them a bit short in the backrow, hence Vui getting selected despite the fact he lacks the physicality to be a good 6.
Yeah not ideal that Pisi continues to get picked. They clearly don't trust Fa'apale or Leuila to take the side forward and if Pisi went down, I think they'd move Nanai-Williams to 10 ahead of Alatimu.
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Russia v Samoa (Pool A):
Wow they have picked the exact same side.
I guess they don’t rate the rest of the squad?? A very short gap
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@Duluth said in RWC: Russia v Samoa (Pool A):
@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Russia v Samoa (Pool A):
Wow they have picked the exact same side.
I guess they don’t rate the rest of the squad?? A very short gap
Or Russia has the driest powder of all...
Slowish start for both sides. A few errors
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What a touch finder by the Russian 1st 5.
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Argh, should’ve taken the 3 points. Get on the board.
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Now the Russian pack send a message at scrum time sending the Samoan pack back on skates.
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@ACT-Crusader Doesn't help when Matu'u puts in a shocking throw.
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TNW nice vision and pass.
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Pisi misses the conversion.
5-0 Samoa
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Russian backline play is stagnant to say the least. Lots of shovelling
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5-3 Samoa
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Ala'alatoa having a difficult time on the tighthead side.
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How good do the Russian 9 and 15 look?
