Andrei Alexandrovich Ostrikov (russian: Андрей Александрович Остриков) (born 2 July 1987) is a Russian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He played for the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

and is also a regular player for the Russian National Rugby Team. He plays as a

lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

or a blindside flanker.

Background

Ostrikov was a volleyball player until 15 years old at the Specialized Children and Youth Sports School of the Olympic Reserve N111 in

Zelenograd Zelenograd ( rus, Зеленогра́д, p=zʲɪlʲɪnɐˈgrat, lit. ''green city'') is a city and administrative okrug of Moscow, Russia. The city of Zelenograd and the territory under its jurisdiction form the Zelenogradsky Administrative O ...

, Russia. After that he decided to try his hand at rugby and joined a rugby school team in

. He was a member of the under-19 Junior National Rugby Team.

Career

Club After the Under-19 Rugby World Cup in Dubai, Ostrikov was noticed by the scouts of a French club SUA (Agen). A couple of months later, in 2006, he signed his first professional contract with the Top14 side SUA (Agen) for three-years. During the next two-years he was a member of the academy squad of SUA (Agen). In 2008, during the third year of his contract, Andrey debuted in a French professional PRO D2. In 2009 Andrey was transferred from Agen to SACA (Aurillac) in the same division PRO D2 where he played for a further two years. Later, Clermont-Auvergne, the French giant of European rugby became interested in Andrey but in 2011, the sports director of an English club Sale Sharks Steve Diamond (a former coach of the Russian National Rugby Team), poached Ostrikov to Northern Powerhouse team, Sale Sharks. During these four years Andrey has received excellent feedback from sports journalists and sport fans. Andrey almost completely missed the season 2012–13 because of a shoulder injury. In 2014–15 he participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup as a Sale Sharks player. In 2015 Ostrikov extended his contract with Sale Sharks for two more years. National Team Ostrikov's debut in the National Team took place on 1 March 2008 in Krasnodar where he (20 years old) helped the Russian "Bears" to beat the Portuguese National Rugby Team 41–26. Since that time Andrey has played 40 games for Russia, with 5 tries scored, 25 points on aggregate, and is considered one of the irreplaceable players of the team. He was a member of the Russian National Squad at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

, but he never played.Andrey Ostrikov International Statistics
/ref> He was called once again for the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

, playing in all four games, but without scoring.

References

Living people 1987 births Rugby union players from Moscow Russian rugby union players Russia international rugby union players Sale Sharks players Russian expatriate rugby union players Expatriate rugby league players in France Expatriate rugby league players in England Rugby union flankers Rugby union locks SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Stade Aurillacois Cantal Auvergne players FC Grenoble Rugby players Stade Montois Rugby players 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players {{russia-rugbyunion-bio-stub