Later today, Connacht Rugby will have travel over 6,000 km to face a familar foe in the Challenge Cup.
Enisei STM are the hosts for the opening game in the tournament for Connacht. The Russians have travelled to Galway on several occasions in recent years to play the Connacht second team. But Connacht have never made the return trip to Russia - until now. It's a daunting trip, and some of the hoops that the westerners will have to jump through are eye-opening.
The team will spend a total of ten hours in the air just to get to Krasnoyarsk. Once they get there, its a seven-hour time difference to adjust to in time for Saturday's game. The game itself will be played at 8.30 am Irish time, and in frighteningly cold temperatures of -10 degrees. At no stage during Connacht's four-day stay in Russia will the temperatures rise above -6, with the temperatures steadily plummeting from their arrival to the game on Saturday.
Connacht team manager Tim Alnutt told the Irish Times about some of the preparations that the team have been making for the game:
We’ll have thermals under our shirts, but not on the legs. Just normal shorts. The unknown elements are the mileage and the time difference.
That time difference will be a full seven-hour difference between Krasnoyarsk and Galway. Because of that, Connacht will be playing at 8.30 am Irish time. To prepare, all of their training sessions for the last week have been starting at 6 am.
That's what happens when a team has to travel four hours on a plane to Moscow, before refuelling their charter flight for the remain four and a half hour flight to their final destination. The return won't be too much easier. After the game that kicks off at 8.30 am, Connacht are scheduled to arrive back in Galway just before midnight on Saturday. Let's hope they can recover in time to face Brive the following week.
All that to play a team they've faced in Galway several times already.
Connacht have named a 24-man squad to travel to Russia, that features six academy prospects:
Backs (10)
Darragh Leader, Niyi Adeolokun, Bundee Aki, Peter Robb, Rory Parata, Craig Ronaldson, Jack Carty, AJ MacGinty, Ian Porter, Caolin Blade
Forwards (14)
Jason Harris-Wright, Dave Heffernan, Shane Delahunt, Conan O’Donnell, Ronan Loughney, Denis Buckley, Finlay Bealham, Aly Muldowney, Danny Qualter, Ultan Dillane, James Connolly, Sean O’Brien, George Naoupu, John Muldoon.
Unavailable from Challenge Cup Squad: Rodney Ah You, Fionn Carr, John Cooney, Matt Healy, Robbie Henshaw, Kieran Marmion, Ben Marshall, Tom McCartney, Dave McSharry, Tiernan O’Halloran, Danie Poolman, Quinn Roux, Nathan White.
Get ready for an Irish province first game outside of Europe.
