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Second Russian tighthead joins a Premiership club inside the space of a week

(Photo by Francois Nel/World Rugby via Getty Images)

Gloucester have announced the signing of Russian Test tighthead Kirill Gotovtsev for the 2021/22 season just days after Gallagher Premiership rivals London Irish completed the signing of Vladimir Podrezov, another Test level-playing No3, on a short-term deal until the end of this season. 

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Gotovtsev will arrive at Kingsholm from Russian club Krasny Yar Krasnoyarsk, bringing international experience with him to Gloucester after representing his country at the 2019 World Cup in Japan and again in the recent Rugby Europe Championship.

Before taking up rugby, the 33-year-old was a talented freestyle wrestler, winning a bronze medal at the 2010 Russian championships. He is said to weigh 119kgs.

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Ex-All Blacks half-back Andy Ellis talks about the quality of the MLR

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    Ex-All Blacks half-back Andy Ellis talks about the quality of the MLR

    Gloucester chief operating officer Alex Brown is looking forward to seeing the Russian settle into Premiership life. “Kirill has been a consistent performer for Russia over the last few years.

    “He is an extremely powerful scrummager and dominant ball carrier and he will add to our resources in the front row. We are really excited to see Karill next season and we are confident that he will be a great fit at Kingsholm.”

    The new Premiership signing comes a week after London Irish announced that they had picked up Podrezov, Gotovtsev’s rival for the No3 Russia jersey, from VVA-Podmoskovye. He had been training with the London club in recent weeks before agreeing on a short-term contract taking him through until the current campaign.

    Capped 34 times by his country, the 27-year-old was also part of the Russian squad that competed in the 2019 World Cup. “I’m really happy to be here,” said Podrezov, who tips the scales at 121kgs. “This is a fantastic opportunity for me and one I’m really looking forward to. Everyone at the club has been really welcoming to me and I’m excited about helping the team out between now and the end of the season.”

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    H
    Hellhound 25 minutes ago
    Springboks' No.1 status in world rankings coming under increased threat

    I disagree. A fair system would include points for EVERY MATCH you play, top guns or dregs. The WC should not influence the points table. No tournament should. It should be simple. This much for a home or away win. The problem with that is that Top Tier nations can point stay by arranging a lot of games against those nations to bring up their points tally, which wouldn't work. At least not on the points table. It would however give Tier 2 nations more game time against the Top Tier nations, which in itself is a good thing. However, that being said, it would dilute the quality of teams as they don't face tough enough opposition to handle the real tough teams, so come WC time, they would suffer for those consequences. There is no points system that currently can be used that would be fair to all, so the best is to try and be as fair as possible. We may not like the current system, but it's the best we have. Some suggested the Soccer system, but it won't work in rugby. No one has come up with a better points system and if they did, WR isn't sharing that. They would rather keep an eye on Dr Rassie with pen in hand ready to declare everything he does as illegal and against the spirit of the game. The SA men are too big, we can't stop them. Maybe we should ban the big men from SA as illegal but keep the big men of other countries? Oh wait, now the SA backs are too fast and slippery. That isn't good for WR so let's declare fast SA backs as illegal too. Yeah, that's how it works in WR isn't it? WR and all other countries hate the Boks. Never give them the respect they deserve, then are shocked completely finding out that no South African care what the world of rugby or its fans or other nations think about us. We don't care about the points system. It's as rotten as World Rugby and it's socialistic communistic rule of laws. The Boks will keep leading the brand of rugby. Keep innovating. Keep pushing boundaries. Keep the game interesting. We respect the AB's because they respect us. They may not like us, but the respect has always been crystal clear. Over 100 years of the biggest rivalry in rugby’s history can't be thrown away just like that. No points system can do that. Between WC's, we care about the AB's, the rest is just preparation for the next WC.

    95 Go to comments
    J
    Jfp123 28 minutes ago
    New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

    It would be interesting to see how the financial deal and viewing figures for these last 3 matches compare with those for previous tours by leading NH nations. I imagine that broadcasting rights are negotiated a fair way in advance, so did the broadcasters realise France would send a B team when they signed on the dotted line? And to what extent were viewing figures affected? I’d have thought die hard fans would tune in anyway, and more casual fans wouldn’t know much about French players, except perhaps Dupont, and wouldn’t care who played on the French side - wouldn’t it be which ABs played that would matter to them? Although the big ‘disrespect’ furore might have had an effect, but whether to increase or decrease viewing figures I couldn’t say.

    It’s not only the French national team that sends out B teams, many of their clubs do too, both in away matches in the Top14 and in Champions Cup. But these B teams often play in front of sell out crowds, and the value of the broadcasting rights for the Top 14 have gone up and up.

    Of course, home advantage is real, and matches against the Saffas and ABs where they play best is I guess at the current time the hardest test of all. However, it doesn’t look like we’ll actually see France A in NZ or SA for the foreseeable future - the Top14 really is a fabulous competition, almost year round brilliant rugby, with big stars from around the world, madly enthusiastic fans, and a big money earner, I can’t see the French making major alterations (I’m not French, but I’m a big fan too and the only alteration I’d make is a limit on individual playing time for player welfare).

    Considering their home record against NZ and away against Ireland, I think that’s enough to acknowledge that the top French players have a very high degree of skill, but if SH fans don’t see things that way, that’s up to them. My point was, if NZ fans don’t think much of them, why are they so bothered they’re not there. Anyway come 2027, France A will travel to the SH, if not NZ or SA, and we’ll see what happens!

    100 Go to comments
    S
    Soliloquin 49 minutes ago
    All Blacks squeeze past France to sweep July series in Hamilton

    Big question!

    I think they would get outsmarted by the A team, outpacked forward and depending on the form of the A team, the score would be more or less 15-20 points a higher or lower victory.

    The only issue is that France has a lot of 13s, and they were all in NZ.

    This weekend’s team was gassed out, so it’s also very much linked to fitness level.

    Just like the ABs were tired at the end of November, while the French were rusty after just one game against Japan.

    I fear they will get smashed in Paris without Dupont (confirmed to be still out) by the Springboks as it will be their first game of the international season (a nonsense to me - the biggest game will be the first)


    The squad for this France A would be:

    Gros-Mauvaka-Tatafu

    Flament-Meafou

    Cros-Ollivon-Alldritt

    Dupont-Ntamack

    Moefana-?(all 13s were in NZ) Costes ?

    Bielle-Biarrey-Penaud

    Ramos


    (But if you can take players from the NZ, then Guillard and Barassi or Fickou could be in)


    Against the C team:

    Erdocio-Bourgarit-Slimani

    Auradou-Halagahu

    Fischer-Guillard-Brennan

    Le Garrec-Hastoy

    Fickou-Depoortere

    Attissogbe-Villière

    Barré


    And a B team would be:

    Baille-Marchand-Atonio

    Cazeaux-Vergé

    Jegou-Jelonch-Gazzotti

    Lucu-Jalibert

    Danty-Frisch

    Lebel-Dréan

    Buros


    ———

    France A-France C at full fitness: 38-12

    France A-France B: 28-17

    France B-France C: 32-20


    It seems a bit like Toulouse is kind of France A at full power last year, UBB is France B at full power last year and Racing92 is France C at full power this year.

    112 Go to comments
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