Snow rugby is Russia’s latest sporting craze and the sport’s chiefs Moscow have high ambitions for the quintessentially crazy sport - to play the annual tournament finals on Red Square. That’s if they can find snow to play on.
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At last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan, Russia crashed out of the tournament without winning a single game, despite a valiant 30-10 losing effort in the opening match against the hosts - seen by 20 million people worldwide.
Despite the setback Russias found a way to make the game suit them - unsurprisingly, the solution was to play the game on snow.
And it paid off. Last December, the first ever European Snow Rugby Championships were held in Moscow, where Russia’s men’s and women’s senior teams became the first ever kings and queens of the continent.
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The 9th annual all-Russia Snow Rugby Championships in the suburban Moscow town of Zelenograd, the historical home of rugby in the city, features 40 teams of men and women battle it out for bragging rights of the world’s biggest nation.
Only this year there was one slight hitch...