Australian-born lock Adam Byrnes has been recalled to the Russia squad ahead of the upcoming Nations Cup games with Italy A, Uruguay and Argentina A, team official Sergei Markov told R-Sport on Friday.
Byrnes, who qualifies for Russia through his mother, has not played for Russia since the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, where he played in all three of Russia’s games.
Russia coach Kingsley Jones, formerly of the Sale Sharks, has called up 32 players for a training camp ahead of the Nations Cup next week, with London Wasps number eight Victor Gresev the only English Premiership player in the squad.
Byrnes will not start a trend of call-ups for foreign-based players with Russian ancestry as the country tries to focus on youth development, Jones has said previously.
Jones opted not to use Byrnes, and left out Russia’s several English-based players for much of the 2011-12 European Nations Cup campaign for the same reason.
