USSR Tour To New Zealand
In 1991, in preparation for the second Rugby World Cup in Britain, France and Ireland, New Zealand hosted short tours by Western Samoa, Fiji, Romania and the USSR. There were no matches of Test status played by New Zealand against the tourists, but a side designated "A New Zealand XV" met both the Romanian and Soviet sides.
The USSR tour party comprised 26 players and was led from the front-row by Sergei Molchenov. They won four and lost four of the eight matches played:
- May 25: W 25-24 v Nelson Bays (Nelson)
- May 29: W 23-16 v Marlborough (Blenheim)
- June 1: L 15-73 v Canterbury (Christchurch)
- June 5: W 33-10 v Mid Canterbury (Ashburton)
- June 8: L 11-37 v Otago (Dunedin)
- June 12: L 16-39 v Taranaki (New Plymouth)
- June 16: L 6-56 v NEW ZEALAND XV (Hamilton)
- June 18: W 22-15 v King Country (Te Kuiti)
The tours gave the New Zealand selectors a chance to gauge the form of players likely to be on the periphery of selection for the World Cup. The teams in the representative match you refer to were as follows:
June 16, 1991 at Rugby Park, Hamilton New Zealand XV 56 (8G 2T) - USSR 6 (1PG 1DG) New Zealand XV: E J Crossan; E Clarke, W K Maunsell, T D L Tagaloa; A F McCormick, J P Preston; J A Hewett; O M Brown, N J Hewitt, M R Allen, R M Brooke, D W Mayhew, M P Carter, W T Shelford (captain), W R Gordon
Tries: McCormick (2), Crossan (2), Maunsell (2), Tagaloa (2), Shelford, Carter Conversions: Crossan (8)
USSR : V Voropaev; A Zakarliuk, I Kuperman, A Kovalenko, I Mironov; S Boldakov, A Bychkov; E Kabylkin, S Molchenov (captain), R Bikbov, S Sergeev, E Ganiakhin, V Negodin, A Ogryzkov, A Tikhonov Replacements used: Y Nikolaev, V Zykov
Penalty Goal: Boldakov Dropped Goal: Boldakov
Referee: Mr D J Bishop
Read more about this topic: Soviet Union National Rugby Union Team
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