Connacht brace themselves for journey on Siberian express

There are a variety of spellings but the one that appears to make the most sense is Yenisei-STM Krasnoyarsk to give them their full title. That's the Russian rugby club that Connacht will face on two occasions during their European Challenge Cup campaign for the 2015-2016 season.

The club is situated on, and takes its name from, the Yenisei river, which flows through the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk and onwards to the Arctic Ocean. The rugby club was founded in 1975 and changed its name twice before adopting its current title in 2000.

The STM is an abbreviation that, when translated, means Siberian Heavy Engineering Plant; hence the team’s nickname, ‘heavy machine’. It’s probably lost in translation.

Yenisei are the second largest club in Russia, they play in the Professional Rugby League and their jersey has a white body with blue shoulders. They qualified for the European Challenge Cup by virtue of a round-robin event from which they emerged unbeaten.

They are also more familiar to Connacht than people might imagine having already played them several times.The most recent meeting was in April 2014 when they lost 51-24 to the Connacht Eagles.

Good memory

Those with a good memory might recall that Ireland beat Russia 35-3 in Krasnoyarsk in September 2002. Ireland had to qualify for the 2003

World Cup

, a legacy of their defeat to Argentina in Lens four years earlier. Ronan O’Gara kicked 15 points and Girvan Dempsey led the try scoring with a brace.

Ireland’s bagman Paddy ‘Rala’ O’Reilly, asked for some ice and, failing to understand, a waitress returned with three cubes in a tumbler. When he requested some more, she told him there was no more. All the way to Siberia and no ice.

It is further from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk than it is from Dublin to Moscow but there is potentially good news for Connacht as Yenisei-STM played their home matches in the round-robin tournament in Sochi, the port city on the Black Sea and some 5,054 kilometres closer than Krasnoyarsk.

Promoted Unlike last year, the winner of the European Challenge Cup will be promoted to the Champions Cup

. "The Challenge Cup is massive now because next season the winner automatically gets into the Champions Cup, " said Connacht head coach Pat Lam. "What's important is to not only get through the pool, but to be seeded as high as possible, so you get a home quarter- and semi-final.

“We’re happy with the pool and, for me personally, it’s a return to Newcastle Falcons, which I’m excited about. They were the first team I played for when I moved to Europe in the late ’90s. In France it’s Brive, a past European Cup winner, which will be good for us. And finally to Yenisei-STM, which is going to be an exciting trip to Russia.”