Australian-born lock Adam Byrnes will make his first Rugby World Cup start for Russia when the Bears meet Italy in a Pool C match Tuesday at Trafalgar Park.
Byrnes, whose mother was born in Russia and migrated to Australia as a child, will try to help Russia, playing in the World Cup for the first time, win its first match after an opening 13-6 loss to the United States.
The Melbourne Rebels player was named on the reserves bench in the opening match.
38-year-old Vyacheslav Grachev will make his second start in a row.
The majority of Russia's 30-man squad comes from its domestic league, with only five overseas-based players. The most notable is Northampton Saints winger Vasily Artemyev, who is in the line-up on Tuesday after also starting against the Americans.
Russia: 15 Igor Klyuchnikov, 14 Vasily Artemyev, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Alexey Makovetskiy, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Konstantin Rachkov, 9 Alexander Shakirov, 8 Victor Gresev , 7 Andrey Garbuzov, 6 Vyacheslav Grachev , 5 Adam Byrnes, 4 Alexander Voytov, 3 Ivan Prishchepenko, 2 Vladislav Korshunov (c), 1 Vladimir Botvinnikov
Replacements: 16 Valery Tsnobiladze, 17 Alexander Khrokin, 18 Denis Antonov, 19 Artem Fatakhov, 20 Alexander Yanyushkin, 21 Mikhail Sidorov, 22 Yury Kushnarev.
Date: Tuesday, Spetember 20
Venue: Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Kick-off: 19:30 (7:30 GMT)
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Steve Walsh, Chris Pollock
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
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