WR affiliation 1990 President Viatcheslav Kopiev | Founded 1936 Rugby Europe affiliation 1992 Men's coach Nikolai Nerush | |
Rugby Union of Russia (Russian: Союз регбистов России) is the governing body for rugby union in Russia. It was founded in 1936 originally as the Rugby Union of the Soviet Union. The Rugby Union of Russia became affiliated to World Rugby (previously known as the International Rugby Football Board, and still later as the International Rugby Board) in 1990.
Aims
The Rugby Union of Russia set a goal for the Russian national team to qualify for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, and make their first appearance in the tournament. The team succeeded in this quest, qualifying as Europe 2 in Pool C, where one of their opponents was one of the country's main sporting rivals, the United States. Further ahead, they have targeted being a top twelve rugby playing nation by 2015, and reaching the quarter finals stage of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.