Canada rugby coach Kingsley Jones renews acquaintances with Russia this weekend
Coach Kingsley Jones will see familiar faces everywhere he looks Saturday when his Canadian side takes on Russia at Ottawa’s Twin Elm Rugby Park.
Russian forwards coach Alexander Voytov was Jones’s captain when he coached Russia. Jones brought backs coach Josh Taumalolo, a former Tongan international, to Russia. The Russian performance coach played lock under Jones. And the Bears have the same team manager, who worked closely with Jones.
Jones joined the Russian team as a consultant prior to the 2011 Rugby World Cup before being elevated to national teams director and taking over the national squad. He resigned in 2014 for family reasons.
“Going to a World Cup, you can’t buy that,” he said. “To take a team to a World Cup was a tremendous time.”