It would seem that the Siberian psyche would have a special affinity with the game. "Rugby is popular in Krasnoyarsk and Siberia for two reasons. Firstly, the values of rugby are very close to the Siberian spirit. Then secondly our weather conditions do not give us much opportunity to have a good soccer team in the Krasnoyarsk region. We have better conditions for rugby because here we play snow rugby, which we can happily play in our very cold winters," says Grachev.

Rugby development manager for Viktor Sidorenko says: "Krasny Yar and Yenisey-STM Krasnoyarsk are the foundation of the Russian national team. In fact, more than 50% of the current national squad are Siberians. This is not just for the 15s game but also for sevens."
[link to en.espn.co.uk]