Russian rugby club Enisei-STM will become familiar with Oliver Cromwell’s ‘To hell or to Connacht’ threat next season, as Connacht Rugby has been ‘sent to Siberia’ in the European Challenge Cup.
Connacht has been drawn against the Siberian club in Pool 1 of next season’s second flight European competition along with English outfit Newcastle Falcons and French club Brive.
Enisei-STM, the Russian champions, are based in the city of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, and will involve a round trip of up to 10,000 miles for Pat Lam’s squad and any supporters brave enough to travel.
The exact date of the fixtures has yet to be announced but there will be home and away games against all three teams and Connacht must play Enisei-STM in the depths of the Siberian winter from November through to January.
Snow and hail are the norm as maximum mean temperatures in Krasnoyarsk in the Winter months are minus 10 degrees Celsius, and the minimum mean temperature is minus 20 degrees Celsius.
In the 1700s, the Russian Government sent political prisoners to Siberia because of its remoteness, inhospitable and hostile climate and environment.
It will be the coldest conditions any of the Connacht players will have to play in.
The name of the club, which was founded in 1975, comes from its location on the banks of Enisey River and the STM is an abbreviation for a heavy machinery plant that is one of the major employers in the town.
The match should prove a logistical difficulty, too. If the club opts to play in its home town, there are no direct flights from any city in Europe to Krasnoyarsk – there are scheduled flights to and from Moscow. London to Moscow is about four hours’ plane journey and it is a further five hour flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk. There are also direct flights to Krasnoyarsk from Larnaca in Cyprus.
Enisei-STM played its qualifying matches in the slightly less inhospitable city of Sochi, which is also difficult to get to, should they choose to play their home games there in the Challenge Cup.
The Connacht Eagles beat Enisei-STM at the Sportsground in a friendly in April 2012. Since 1995, they won the Russian League six times and were runners-up eight times.
In order to qualify, they beat Italian and Portuguese teams to reach a play-off against Romanian opposition, who they defeated over two legs to earn their spot in the draw.
Connacht coach Pat Lam said he was pleased with the draw as he is pitted against Newcastle, his former club, and he is “excited” by the trip to Siberia.
“We’re happy with the pool and, for me personally, it’s a return to Newcastle Falcons, which I’m excited about. They were the first team I played for when I moved to Europe in the late 1990s. In France it’s Brive, a past European Cup winner which will be good for us. And finally to Enisei-STM, which is going to be an exciting trip to Russia,” said Lam.
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