The VVA-Podmoskovye 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 ...

team playing in the

Professional Rugby League The Russian Rugby Championship, officially known as the Liga Stavok - Russian Rugby Championship for sponsorship reasons (russian: Лига Ставок - Чемпионат России по регби), is Russia's top level professional men's ...

. The team plays at

Gagarin Air Force Academy Gagarin Air Force Academy () is a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino, Moscow Oblast. The academy prepares high-ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force. Among the academy alumni are around 700 Heroes of the Soviet ...

stadium in

Monino Monino (russian: Мо́нино) is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Shchyolkovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. Population: History Monino was founded in the Muninskaya Wasteland (russian: Мунинс� ...

, a garrison town just outside Moscow. VVA-Podmoskovye have strong links to the air force and also supplied the bulk of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, with which they shared a head coach, Nikolai Nerush. The team had ambitious plans for the future - it lobbied hard for inclusion in the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

and was close to completing a 12,500-seat purpose-built rugby stadium. VVA-Podmoskovye have won the title eight times, in 1993, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. March 2011 saw two stars depart for

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 ...

clubs, with Moldovan international

Vadim Cobîlaş Vadim (Cyrillic: Вадим) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovene masculine given name derived either from the Persian ''badian'' (anise or aniseed), or from the Ruthenian word ''volod'' (russian: волод), meaning ''to rule'' or ''vaditi ...

joining former Russia coach Steve Diamond at

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 ...

and Russian international Vasily Artemiev joining

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

Honours

* USSR/Russian Championship (17): 1969, 1971, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010. * USSR/Russian Cup (13): 1976, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010.

Current squad

2019

Former players now in a professional overseas league

Union Bordeaux Bègles Union Bordeaux Bègles (; oc, Union Bordèu Begla) is a French rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed ...

International honours

Karolis Navickas Karolis Navickas (born 9 April 1990 in Šiauliai, Lithuania) is a Lithuanian rugby union player currently playing for US Bressane in French Rugby Pro D2. Early career Navickas, known as "Bebras" (Beaver) in his home country, has already been in ...

Alexander Khrokin Alexander Khrokin (russian: Александр Хрокин)(born 10 July 1976) is a former Russian rugby union footballer. He played as a prop. He played is entire career at VVA-Podmoskovye Monino, from 1994/95 to 2012/13. He had 77 caps for Ru ...

Alexei Travkin Alexei Sergeevich Travkin (russian: Алексей Сергеевич Травкин) (born Moscow, 2 August 1977) is a former Russian rugby union player who played as a prop. He played for VVA-Podmoskovye Monino, known as VVA Saracens until 2016 ...

* Vladislav Korshunov * Artem Fatakhov *

Alexander Voytov Alexandr Voytov (born 7 December 1981) is a Russian rugby union player and former captain of the Russia national rugby union team, Russian national rugby union team. He played at Lock for the national team and for VVA Saracens in the Professional ...

* Evegeny Matveev * Victor Gresev *

Alexander Shakirov Alexander Shakirov (russian: Александр Шакиров) (born 20 January 1981) is a Russian rugby union player. He plays as a Scrum-half (rugby union)#Scrum-half, scrum-half and also as a Fly-half (rugby union)#Fly-half, fly-half. He curr ...

Alexander Yanyushkin Alexander Yanyushkin (russian: Александр Янюшкин; born 30 October 1982 in Penza) is a Russian rugby union coach and former player, he is the head coach of the Lokomotiv Penza and Russia 7s. He played for VVA-Podmoskovye Monino, i ...

Mikhail Babaev Mikhail Babaev (born Moscow, 19 January 1986) is a Russian rugby union player. He plays as a wing and as a centre. Babaev plays for VVA-Podmoskovye Monino, known as VVA Saracens, since 2003, in Russia. He has 57 caps for Russia, since 2006, with ...

Sergey Trishin Sergey Trishin (born Moscow, 12 December 1984) is a Russian rugby union player. He plays as a centre. He played for VVA Saracens and currently plays for Enisei-STM, in the Rugby Premier League. He has 56 caps for Russia, since 2005, with 5 trie ...

* Vasily Artemiev * Igor Klyuchnikov * Andrey Kuzin

References

External links

* http://www.heavensgame.com/russian-pro-league/russian-league-expands-for-2010 {{Professional Rugby League Russian rugby union teams Sport in Moscow Oblast Saracens Global Network Professional Rugby League teams