The final game of the 2012 slew of matches in the 2012-13 European Shield will take place on Saturday in Naro-Fominsk, just outside Moscow. Table-toppers Russia, who out-lasted their closest rivals Italy two weeks ago in a tight, tough contest, play Serbia. Russia has won all three previous encounters, but the Serbs are closing the gap: the score was 44-6 in 2006, then 30-4 in 2008, whilea late Petr Botnarash try in last year’s world cup qualifier secured the Bears’ 36-28 win.

“We see the game in Naro-Fominsk as another opportunity to get over the Russians,” said Serbian head coach Marko Jankovic. “We always seem to play interesting matches against them. The Russian national team and their results are highly respected...but what is certain is that we will try our hardest to upset them at the halfway mark of the competition.”

The Serbs will be hardened by the recent conclusion of their Origin series, won 2-1 by Serbia Country over Belgrade. Radnički Nova Pazova’s Nemanja Božić is the only debutant, while veteran hooker Zoran Pesic is set to extend his cap record of 27 consecutive matches. “The atmosphere in the team is very good,” continued Jankovic. “There are no injuries, everyone is highly motivated and believes we can perform at our best in front of a big crowd.”

His counterpart, the highly respected Eduard Ososkov, has the luxury of making only one change to his 20-man squad, with the industrious Andrey Sevostianov, who travelled to Germany in May, replacing flanker Rustam Bulanov. Classy Sasha Lysokon will again lead the side which has played expansively and ruggedly in both its previous games.

“We understand that the upcoming game will be quite a bit different compared to the Italy match,” said the player-coach. “The Serbian team is stocked with powerful forwards so it promises to be a tough game full of massive contact. We also shouldn't forget that the coaching staff and the Serbian federation are very ambitious. It is going to be a breathtaking game.”

The return fixtures for 2013 will be announced in due course.

Pictured: Sergey Gaponov will lead from the front again.

RUSSIA 20-MAN SQUAD
Sergey Beliavskiy, Alexey Mikhaylov, Alexandr Samuylov, Victor Tolstov, Sergey Zuev (MGPU), Grigoryan Artem (RBC Red Arrow), Dmitriy Bratko, Igor Chuprin, Vadim Fedchuk, Alexey Volkov (Storm), Petr Botnarash, Sergey Gaponov, Anatoly Grigorev, Sergey Konstantinov, Aleksandr Lysokon (c), Alexey Nikolaev, Eduard Ososkov, Andrey Sevostianov, Maksim Suchkov, Vladimir Vlasyuk (Vereya Bears)

SERBIA 20-MAN SQUAD
Mirko Božović, Danilo Delić, Dejan Lukenić, Stefan Nedeljković, Stevan Stevanović, Ivan Šušnjara, Vuk Tvrdišić, Dalibor Vukanović (c) (Dorćol), Ilija Radan (Hemel Hempstead RLFC), Lazar Živković (Niš), Nemanja Božić, Pero Madžarević (Radnički Nova Pazova), Miloš Ćalić, Vladislav Dedić, Vojislav Dedić, Vladica Nikolić, Zoran Pešić, Miloš Zogović (Red Star Belgrade)