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'You get nervous whether it's a club match in some God-knows-where city in Russia or the opening day of the Rugby World Cup in Japan'
Vasily Artemyev is ready for the biggest moment of his life. Russia’s miserable warm-up results beg to differ, but nothing can dampen the skipper’s enthusiasm as he prepares to lead his country out the Tokyo Stadium tunnel next Friday with the eyes of 50,000 spectators on him and many millions more watching on live TV.
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Russia’s match preparation to take on host nation Japan in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup has been traumatic. Three defeats, 162 points leaked, their try line breached 24 times. Painful.
Artemyev, though, refuses to be downhearted even if a 70-point hammering by Italy, followed by embarrassing home losses to Championship outfit Jersey and PRO14 club Connacht, does sound awful.
He is bravely not letting those mishaps douse his excitement for what is to come at Ajinomoto Stadium, exposure like never before in a Test career that dates back to 2009 and includes playing at the 2011 finals.
“The results for the last couple of friendlies are secondary to what we tried to achieved, to what we tried to do in giving everybody game time,” he told RugbyPass before the start of a tournament that will also see the 20th world-ranked minnows take on Scotland, Ireland and Samoa.
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“We are always a little bit slow to start with. When we kick off a new block it has always been a little feature… but we have made our errors, we have shaken off a little bit of rustiness we have had as a team.
“Mentally it was really challenging to lose in that fashion. No one ever wants to be in that position, so it has helped us to focus, to be better next time and for everyone to do their best to help the team to reach new targets and goals.
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“Everybody has a chance at the World Cup. Japan proved it at the last World Cup that an underdog, a tier two nation, can on a good day with the right mentality, preparation, game plan and strategy beat a tier one, one of the favourites of the tournament.
Rugby World Cup has a warm-up result last night in Moscow that won't do much for the credibility of the minnow nations heading to Japanhttps://t.co/Ef3burxTlC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 28, 2019
“Then again we are not playing all our games against a tier one nation, so we will do our best in the first game against Japan. That is going to be a huge honour to be part of the competition, to be part of the opening ceremony, the opening match against the hosts.
“It’s huge for everyone involved in the Russian squad. We will do our best and try to spoil it for the hosts, but we do realise how strong Japan have been recently and how long they have been preparing for this World Cup, so it isn’t going to be easy.”
A veteran of 86 caps, the 32-year-old is eager to embrace the onerous schedule rather than feel in any way overawed by a World Cup that will commence with the eyes of the rugby world on Russia. “You get nervous, you get this matchday feeling when you play any match, whether it’s a club match in some God-knows-where city in Russia or if it’s the opening day of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
“You get those feelings and as a professional athlete and you learn to use them, to channel this emotion and feelings towards your performance and to help you focus. When you are younger it was maybe hard and difficult to manage a certain level of nervousness and occasion in your head, but when you have been around for several years you start to learn how to use it to help yourself.
“It was an amazing experience going to New Zealand eight years ago and spending about a month at the heart of probably the most rugby-playing nation in the world, seeing the support, seeing the welcome of the locals and local towns having their road signs in Cyrillic, stuff like that in Blenheim where we were based initially.
“We know Japan are notorious for putting so much attention to detail in everything they do. We are expecting everything to be planned out to the nth degree and I’m sure with the rise of interest in rugby in their country in the past few years, we are going to see a lot of attention for Russia to be playing in quite an exotic rugby-playing nation.”
'When the Russian anthem was played, you couldn't hear a note. That's how hostile the crowd was.' https://t.co/CVy3wjlzvR
— liam heagney (@heagneyl) February 3, 2019
The predictions suggest Russia have travelled to the finals on a wing and a prayer, but they are not without some hope. They did need a generous leg-up to qualify in the first place, player eligibility sanctions against higher-ranked Romania and Spain belatedly opening the door to progress after a 2018 Rugby European Championship where Russia won just two of five matches.
But they only lost out to Japan 32-27 in the closing minutes last November in Gloucester, the sort of result that gives Lyn Jones’ team the necessary optimism that they can be competitive next Friday and in the weeks after.
Respect for their efforts would be pleasing as being a professional rugby player in Russia is quite a hard slog. “It’s less rewarding than most other popular sports in Russia,” explained Artemyev, who had two seasons in the English Premiership with Northampton off the back of the 2011 World Cup.
#RWC2019: Not just the on-field #RUS?? staff putting in a shift with the weights in Japan! ??????? pic.twitter.com/5hcy2DSp3H
— Rugby Union Russia (@russiarugby) September 13, 2019
“You can still make a living, a comfortable living out of it, especially if you’re a national team player. You do get some preferential benefits from being in the national team as well. But for an ordinary player, it’s nothing that will support you for the rest of your life, that’s for sure.
“It isn’t comparable with ice hockey, soccer or basketball salaries and I could list several other team sports that would earn considerably more than the rugby players. At the moment it’s not huge. It’s probably comparable to what some players earn in Federale 1 or Pro D2 (in France).
“A lot of guys may have some side business, which is not uncommon when you play rugby in Russia because you do have quite long periods of time without any games during the winters. If you’re not involved in any of the national teams you’re back in your city just training for several months without playing any games because of the climate.”
It was a stint in Ireland that began as a teenager which accelerated Artemyev’s career and even though he is a long time gone from Dublin where he achieved a bachelor of law qualification, his patter seamlessly switches back into an Irish accent when reflecting on an adventure where he won provincial schools medals with the famed Blackrock College and represented age-grade Leinster and Ireland sides.
“It was a transition year in my Russian school so my parents wanted me to study abroad for a year,” he explained. “I just picked out a random school in Ireland through a study agency. They offered a few schools to pick from so I picked Blackrock because they told me they played a little bit of rugby there as far as they had heard.
“I picked them as I didn’t want up give up rugby for that year as I’d been playing since I was about nine or 10. I ended up in Blackrock, was underage for a junior cup competition that year and it just took off. The school wanted me to stay on and I didn’t mind. I did that and went on to study in UCD and play for their college team. Seven years in total I spent in Ireland.”
The Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk is where Artemyev now earns his crust, his Krasny Yar club pulling off a stunning October 2017 Challenge Cup win over Stade Francais. His additional role on a player’s council helps to pad out his downtime, giving him an overview of the recent growth of the sport in Russia which he hopes is well-positioned to further increase awareness on the back of the World Cup.
Artemyev doesn’t think the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is taking up an invite from former Japanese leader Yoshiro Mori to attend Friday’s opening match, but what he is certain of is rugby is enjoying the assistance of Artemyev’s namesake, Igor Artemyev, the powerful head of the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service who is now the national rugby federation’s chairman.
“We don’t have any direct presence of the president [Putin] at our games or anything like that, but if he does say a few words of support it would be broadcast on all the channels instantly and would bring good PR for rugby. Igor Artemyev is a figure high up on the political scene in his role and the positive changes that have been happening over the last two years have basically all happened after Igor took over this new rugby role.
#RWC2019: Today players representing the nine clubs which comprise Team #RUS?? met the Japanese press (L-R)@metallurg_rugby @SlavaRugby@VVA_Podmoskovje@rugbykuban@Yar_rugby @FCGrugby @Enisei_STM @SaleSharksRugby
Lokomotiv Penza pic.twitter.com/vGCm4xDXmw— Rugby Union Russia (@russiarugby) September 13, 2019
“There has been some good influx of funding towards the clubs and the championship will be expanded to 10 for the first time. It’s eight teams now and it was only like six semi-pro teams a few years ago. There is good movement in the right direction and the World Cup will give it another impulse.
“We’re on the right track and hoping to raise public awareness, to make rugby more interesting and fascinating for people to watch and try out. The rugby union has been working hard to make it available to kids to try and there has been a programme the last few years re-introducing rugby back into the military services as well.
“The primary objective is to grow and develop the local championship because 95 per cent of national team players currently play in the Russian league. The more we can improve the league and the level of intensity of games, the better outcome we will get in terms of players’ preparation to be competing at Test level.”
How good that league currently is will be laid bare on Friday with the world watching on.
WATCH: The trailer for the new RugbyPass documentary looking at the preparations of Tonga ahead of their World Cup campaign
Comments on RugbyPass
I’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
4 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
6 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
8 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
8 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
2 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
6 Go to commentsThe greatest Springbok coach of all time is entirely on the money. Rassie and Jacques have given the south african public a great few years, but the success of the springbok selection policy will need to be judged in light of what comes next. The poor condition that the provincial system is currently in doesn’t bode well for the next few years of international rugby, and the insane 2026 schedule that the Boks have lined up could also really harm both provincial and international consistency.
22 Go to commentsJake White is a brilliant coach and a master in the press. This is another masterclass in media relations and PR but its also a very narrow view with arguments that dont always hold water. White wants his team to win, he wants the best players in SA and wants his team competitive. You however have to face up to the reality of a poor exchange rate and big clubs with big budgets. SA Rugby cant compete and unless it can find more money SA players will keep leaving regardless of Springbok eligibility and this happened in 2015 - 2017. Also rugby is not cricket. Cricket has 3 formats and T20 cricket is where the money is at. When it comes to club vs country the IPL is king but that wont happen because the international calendar does not clash with the club calendar in rugby. So the argument about rugby going down the same path as cricket is really a non-starter
22 Go to commentsNZ rugby seem not to have learnt anything from professional rugby. Super rugby was dying and SA left before they died with the competition. SA rugby did a u turn on their approach to international players playing overseas and such players are now selected for Bok teams. As much as each country would love to retain their players playing in local competitions, this is the way the world is evolving my friends. Move with it or stay 20 years behind the times. One more thing. NZ rugby hierarchy think they are the big cheese. Take a more humble approach guys. You do not seem to have your players best interests at heart.
4 Go to commentsBeaches? In Cardiff? Where?
1 Go to commentsHe is right , the Crusaders will be a threat. Scott Barrett, ( particularly), Fergus Burke , Codie Taylor, ( from sabbatical) etc due back soon for the Crusaders. There are others like Zach Gallagher too. People can right the Crusaders off, Top 8 , here we come !!
1 Go to commentsWe will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to comments