About

The Russia national rugby union team (Russian: Сборная России по регби, Sbornaya Rossii po regbi), nicknamed the Bears, is administered by the Rugby Union of Russia (RUR). The RUR is considered the official successor union of the Soviet Union by World Rugby and the combined CIS team which played in the early 1990s. Since 1992, the team has played as Russia. Its first test match as Russia was against the Barbarians in Moscow in June 1992 and the country's first test against an official Test nation was against Belgium later that same year. Russia is seen as a Tier 2 union by World Rugby. The team's regular international competition is in the Rugby Europe Championship – often referred to as the Six Nations B. In addition, the team participates in World Rugby-run summer tournaments including the Nations Cup, the dormant Churchill Cup, and other international fixtures. Russia competed in their first Rugby World Cup (RWC) in New Zealand in 2011 after qualifying as Europe 2 through their second-place finish in the 2009–10 ENC. Russia played in Pool C and finished fifth, scoring one point. Previous qualification campaigns saw elimination to Portugal ahead of the 2007 tournament and expulsion from 2003 qualifying for breaches of eligibility rules. The team also unsuccessfully attempted to qualify for the 1995 and 1999 Rugby World Cups. They will compete in the World Cup in Japan by qualifying as Europe 1 as a result of Spain, Romania and Belgium being eliminated.