MOSCOW, August 26. /TASS/: Winning at least one of the matches at the upcoming 2019 World Rugby Cup in Japan is the main goal of the Russian national rugby team, Vasily Artemyev, the captain of the Russian squad, said on Monday.
The Russian team qualified for the Rugby World Cup series for the first time ever in 2011. The 2011 Rugby World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand and Russia did not clear the group stage losing all matches. The national rugby squad missed the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England, as it did not qualify for the global competition.
"This is a second chance for the Russian national team to play at the World Cup," Artemyev told a news conference hosted by TASS on Monday.
"Playing previously at the World Cup [in 2011] our task was to become a first-ever debutant team to win a match," Artemyev continued. "We have now the same task, which is to win a match no matter who the opponent would be."
"We will be doing our best and applying maximum effort in order to surprise the rugby society," the 32-year-old captain of the Russian national rugby team continued.
"We [the team] are currently in the final stage of our trainings as we work on our endurance and will be peaking by late September," Artemyev added.
On August 27, the Russian national squad is scheduled to play a friendly match against England’s rugby club Jersey Reds as part of the preparations for the upcoming World Cup.
The 2019 World Rugby Cup tournament is scheduled to be held in Japan between September 20 and November 2. After the Russian national team qualified for the global championship, it was seeded in Group A alongside with the squads from Ireland, Samoa, Scotland and Japan.
