'When the Russian anthem was played, you couldn't hear a note. That's how hostile the crowd was.'
We’ve heard all about the Test rugby haves this weekend. Glamour Six Nations fixtures. Bumper attendances. Massive global TV audiences. Top-class entertainment by excellent players who are household names.
But spare a thought for Europe’s have-nots, the tier two countries who begin their own B level tournament next weekend dwarfed as ever by rugby’s greatest championship.
These minnows – Georgia, Russia, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Romania – exist firmly in the shadows. Low profile games. Mostly meagre crowds. Limited TV appeal. A lesser standard of rugby featuring players whose names mostly aren’t recognisable.
Few will notice their opening round exploits compared to the publicity the round two Six Nations matches in Edinburgh, Rome and London will generate. But Dubliner Mark McDermott isn’t complaining. Currently on a 10-day camp in Alicante before heading to Madrid to take on Spain next Sunday, the Russia head coach knows spring-time anonymity will eventually give way to unprecedented September exposure.
Russia are slated to open the World Cup against host nation Japan and they are intent on making it a success, their confidence inflated by a narrow 27-32 defeat at Gloucester a week after much of the same Cherry Blossoms XV gave England quite a Twickenham scare.
‘Japan took that game reasonably serious so it brings a huge degree of optimism that come opening day, with the amount of work that will be done in the interim, that September 20 game can be competitive.
‘The world is going to be watching Russia and for a country that is trying hard, it’s a great pick-me-up to have that opportunity. It’s magnificent way to raise the Russian rugby profile.’
A magnificent way, too, to raise McDermott’s reputation as their third finals match is against Ireland, his native country. He spent around 13 years working at the IRFU, coaching the Irish under-21s to a 2004 World Cup final appearance versus New Zealand.
‘Playing your own home country should be exciting. But from a results perspective, let’s call a spade a spade – there is dreamers and there is reality. Ireland are No2 and Russia are No19. You don’t have to be Einstein’s reincarnation to work out why.’
McDermott is an accidental Russian. He was working outside rugby in Trinidad & Tobago when a call first came from the federation asking to help as forwards consultant. He’d been recommended by Conor O’Shea and Steve Aboud, the Irish pair now heading up Italian rugby, but he initially declined.
However, after five months back in Ireland in a commercial role, curiosity got the better of him. He put in a call, learned the position was still vacant and quickly spent 10 days in a country he’d never previously been to. That was August 2016 and he is still there two-and-a-half years later, commuting from his Dublin home.
The experience has been an eye-opener. ‘You can travel to an awful lot of places in Europe and if you don’t have the language you can still get by. In Russia, there is very little English spoken so that is a bit of a barrier.
‘I’d been travelling over and back to Russia for two years prior to the football World Cup and had never gone on the Moscow metro on my own. Nothing was in English so I wouldn’t have known where I was going, but football and its travelling supporters made the place far more accessible.’
McDermott’s instructions are translated by Russian skipper Vasily Artemyev, who came through the ranks at Dublin’s Blackrock College. ‘He’s 100 per cent articulate in English. Words don’t naturally translate from English into Russian and vice-versa, so you can have players who can have a sprinkling of English but things still get lost in translation. Vasily is the lifeline to any foreign coach here.’
#RURAwards: A true ambassador for Russian Rugby, our Men's XV captain and, since November, our new Union all-time leading try-scorer with 32! Our's Men's XV Player of the Year is Mr. Vasily @VA_rugby Artemyev! pic.twitter.com/xMpyRPsCPb
— Rugby Union Russia (@russiarugby) December 17, 2018
Building the squad hasn’t been a smooth process, managerial upheaval and travel taking their toll. Alexander Pervukhin was sacked as boss following an opening round loss last year to Spain, resulting in McDermott learning via congratulatory messages on WhatsApp from players that he was taking charge on in interim basis. Lyn Jones, the former Ospreys Celtic League winner, has since been appointed.
‘If you were to go to Russia and think you were going to change the world in one year you’re probably going to one out of a job in one month. You have to embrace the culture, try and seed in ideas that are more high performance related than the level of the domestic competition.
‘It’s a logistical nightmare running domestic competition in Russia, not to talk about international rugby. All players are professional – six clubs operate out of three cities, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow and Krasnodar – but it’s not comparable to anywhere.
‘The game went open in the world in 1996 and it took many countries and professional clubs in top tier countries a number of years to get professional structures, but those organisations have now grown to where they are at.
‘In comparison, Russia is probably maybe in year five to when the game went professional in the world. It really is backroom resources. There is only 12 to 15 matches a season and you have a fairly restricted player base. The top sides would maybe have Georgians, Moldovans, Ukrainians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Tongans playing which doesn’t necessarily stand well for the development plan and progress of domestic players into the international set-up.
‘There are many challenges within Russian rugby. The biggest challenge is we are isolated in some way from the rest of the rugby world when you factor in the language, the size of the country, the climate and so forth. But with qualification for the World Cup and a change in governance at the Russian Federation, things are going in an upward curve.’
Climate is the reason Russia will base themselves at Antalya in Turkey for the second phase of a Six Nations B tournament rocked by a 2018 player ineligibility crisis. Romania, Spain and Belgium were all punished, leaving Russia qualifying for the World Cup despite winning just four of eight matches.
This Rugby Europe controversy highlighted how difficult it is to run tier two rugby. Russia’s average home attendance the past two years was only 5,000. Yet while McDermott is at a loss on how make the competition financially thrive, he recommends every rugby fan making a pilgrimage to Tbilisi to catch a Georgia-Russia match.
‘I don’t know how you really grow that tier two competition without having considerable commercial and TV input. Maybe if some games were played in other countries as curtain raisers to other internationals, that might expose it.
‘But one of my everlasting memories will be Russia against Georgia in Tbilisi in 2017 at a 60,000 capacity football stadium that was near full capacity. Politically there are conflicted relationships between Russia and Georgia and that carried into the stadium.
‘Not in a violent nature but we talk about atmospheres of Ireland v England, Scotland v Wales. I would recommend that anyone in their lifetime, if they are a true rugby supporter, go and watch Russia v Georgia in Tbilisi.
‘It’s an unbelievable experience. You won’t have seen the likes of it before. From all my days in Thomond Park (with Munster) I have never witnessed anything like it. Swear to God. It’s a state of the art stadium, modern PA and all that but when the Russian national anthem was played you couldn’t hear a note through the PA system. That’s how hostile the crowd was.’
The World Cup finals will likely end McDermott’s Russian adventure, though. All the coaching staff have been offered a two-year extension, but a job in Irish sport is his preference.
‘Between my stint in Trinidad & Tobago and Russia, I have been on the road for five years so I could be coming close to the end because of the travelling. But I’d like to stay in rugby, stay in sport. That would be the intention.’
RUGBY EUROPE CHAMPIONSHIP 2019
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
6 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
44 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
6 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
44 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
44 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to commentsThis is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?
35 Go to commentsWow, didn’t realise there was such apathy to URC in SA, or by Champions Cup teams. Just read Nick’s article on Crusaders, are Sharks a similar circumstance? I think SA rugby has been far more balanced than NZs, no?
4 Go to commentsBut here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.
44 Go to commentsIt could be coincidental or prescient that the All Blacks most dominant period under Steve Hansen was when the Crusaders had their least successful period under Todd Blackadder and then the positions reversed when Razor took over the Crusaders.
44 Go to commentsDefinitely sound read everybodyexpects immediate results these days, I don't think any team would travel well at all having lost three of the most important game changers in the game,compiled with the massive injury list they are now carrying, good to see a different more in depth perspective of a coaches history.
3 Go to comments