A game littered with penalties from the beginning, Igor Kliuchnikov got Russia on the board first with an early penalty. With the rain holding off the Americans were determined to play a very wide game, and it paid off early as Paul Emerick found a gap and broke fifty metres but Luke Hume couldn’t handle the scoring pass and a try went a begging. Russia were early in at the scrum, however, and after repeated pressure Eric Fry managed to burrow over from close in, first try to the Eagles and an easy conversion for Chris Wyles.
The Bears were right back in it through another Kliuchnikov penalty, but the USA upped the ante when a lovely offload from Robbie Shaw found his outside half Toby L’Estrange who ran a an inside line to score a lovely try on debut. Wyles had no problem with the conversion, and the lead was back up to six.
A bit of to and fro led to a long-range penalty goal from Kliuchnikov, and it looked as if the Bears would start to find their feet. Andrei Temnov put a big hit on L’Estrange and forced a turnover, and Valeri Tsnobiladze broke to within ten metres of the line but the support players were off their feet and killed the move.
The momentum swung back in favour of the US and then Brian Doyle was taken out in the air at the lineout. Viktor Gresev was adjudged to be the guilty party landing him a ten minute break for his ill-discipline. Wyles missed the awarded penalty but Sugrobov failed to get his team out of their own end and after some decisive mauling Doyle went over for the third try. Wyles hit the conversion making it a twelve point game at half.
Any half time talk from Kingsley Jones appeared to have no effect as ineffectual kicking led the Eagles straight back into Russian territory, and this time is was Shaw who found a half gap and dove over for another converted try. Jones decided enough was enough and changed four of his tight five, and immediately they made an impact. A solid scrum gave Sugrobov good ball and he offloaded to Ostroushko who finished well to score Russia’s first try.
With subs starting to come on the game started to break up a bit and first some good stepping and an offload from Hume put Shaw over for his second before Temnov went over from a lineout drive for a Russian try. Chris Biller and Alexei Shcherban were both sent to the bin for something innocuous, allowing Zach Fenoglio to come on and win his first international cap.
With the Russians finally throwing the ball wide another powerful burst from Ostroushko handed Temnov his second try. Kliuchnikov converted from the touchline to bring the Bears within two scores, but it was too little too late.
Despite several silly penalties and unforced knock-ons, US coach Mike Tolkin can be very pleased with his side’s efforts. The forwards dominated the contact area and allowed halfbacks Shaw and L’Estrange to control the game well. The Russians, meanwhile, well be bitterly disappointed in their early tactics. Their kicking was poor and they didn’t get the ball to their danger men out wide until the game was well lost. Both sides now move on to more difficult challenges next week with the Eagles drawing the physical Tongans while the Russians face off against Canada.
SCORING
03 mins – Igor Kliuchnikov pen 3-0
07 mins – Eric Fry try 3-5
07 mins – Chris Wyles con 3-7
12 mins – Igor Kliuchnikov pen 6-7
18 mins – Toby L’Estrange try 6-12
19 mins – Chris Wyles con 6-14
25 mins – Igor Kliuchnikov pen 9-14
37 mins – Brian Doyle try 9-19
38 mins – Chris Wyles con 9-21
44 mins – Chris Wyles try 9-26
45 mins – Chris Wyles con 9-28
50 mins – Robbie Shaw try 9-33
53 mins – Vladimir Ostroushko try 14-33
58 mins – Robbie Shaw try 14-38
59 mins – Chris Wyles con 14-40
62 mins – Andrei Temnov try 19-40
71 mins – Andrei Temnov try 24-40
72 mins – Igor Kliuchnikov con 26-40
CARDS
32 mins – Viktor Gresev yellow
62 mins – Chris Biller yellow
62 mins – Alexei Shcherban yellow
RUSSIA
Igor Kliuchnikov; Denis Simplikevich, Vasili Artemiev, Alexei Makovestskiy (Dimitri Gerasimov 59), Vladimir Ostroushko; Sergey Sugrobov, Alexei Shcherban; Grigori Tsnobiladze (Alexei Volkov 52), Valeri Tsnobiladze (Vladislav Korshunov 52), Evgeny Pronenko (Innokenty Zykov 52); Alexander Voytov (capt.), Kirill Kulemin (Vladimir Boltenkov 52 {Gleb Babkin 73}); Andrei Temnov, Pavel Butenko (Andrei Garbuzov 63), Viktor Gresev.
UNITED STATES
Chris Wyles; Cornelius Dirksen, Paul Emerick, Andrew Suniula (Roland Suniula 56), Luke Hume; Toby L’Estrange, Robbie Shaw (Mike Petri 61); Shawn Pittman, Chris Biller (Zach Fenoglio 72), Eric Fry; Brian Doyle (Inaki Basauri 61), Louis Stanfill; Scott LaValla, John Quill (Zach Fenoglio 63-72), Todd Clever (capt.) (Peter Dahl 56).
