Russian National team is preparing
for the tour to New Zealand.

Russian National team is going to New Zealand to prepare for the International tournament ?Victory Cup?. There are 26 players in the delegation, the representatives of four clubs ? ?Locomotive? and ?Dinamo? (Moscow), ?Strela? and ?Energy? (Kazan). The training session is taking place in four cities of the South island. The first test match will take place on the 12th of April in Nelson. Our National side will meet with the ?Tasmans? and will continue to get acquainted with the techniques of the New Zealand model of playing during the matches with the teams ?West Coast? (Greymouth) ? April 18th , ?Canterbury? (Christchurch) - April 21st, and will finish the series of friendly matches with ?Otago? (Dunedin). The forthcoming series of the meetings with the New Zealand is the first one in the history of the development of Russian rugby-13, and that is why the players of the National team are waiting with impatience for the moment of getting the unique experience in the country where Rugby League is a national game gathering thousands of spectators in the stadiums. The Head of the delegation Vladimir Nekrasov says that the tour to New Zealand ?will give wonderful souvenirs to all?, and what is really very important is that a world known coach Robert Baily will work with the National team. The results of the planned matches in New Zealand will determine the players for the National team of Russia for the season 2004. List of players for New Zealand Tour 1. Akhmetshin Aidar 2. Baskakov Valentin 3. Bojoukov Evgueni 4. Dobrynine Serguei 5. Fedchuk Vadim 6. Gavrilin Igor 7. Gvozdev Ian 8. Joukov Oleg 9. Chamsoutdinov Rinat 10. Katerinchuk Vitaly 11. Lebedev Vladimir 12. Lysenkov Alexander 13. Makovetski Alexey 14. Mamochka Andrey 15. Mishukov Danila 16. Nechaev Victor 17. Nisiforov Mikhail 18. Ovtchinnikov Roman 19. Ovtchinnikov Vladimir 20. Safiullin Adel 21. Sidorov Serguei 22. Sokolov Oleg 23. Trofimov Vladimir 24. Yakubov Rafael 25. Yamanaev Maxim 26. Zagoskin Nikolay 27. Koulemine Kirill 28. Vinogradov Georgy