A RED army of Rugby League stars rolled into Lancaster last week as the Russian national team prepared for their first crack at World Cup glory.

The players, a mixture of home-grown Russians and Australian professionals with Russian ancestry, are using the city's Forte Posthouse as their headquarters for the next two weeks. They took on Fiji in Barrow on Sunday and are due to face England and favourites Australia in the group stages of the 16 team competition.

training will take them to Kirby Lonsdale rugby club and Lancaster and Morecambe college.

Put it won't all be work, work, work for the Russians, who are also planning to explore local attractions and the city's pubs and clubs.

French based loose forward Andrei Olari told the Citizen: "I'm proud to be playing in the World Cup against teams like England and Australia.

"I don't think we will be able to beat them, but I hope when the games are finished they will be able to say that they were very tough games.

"I like Lancaster very much. It reminds me of many small towns in France close to where I live now."

Andrei was amongst the first Russians to take up the game a decade ago, and for the last five years he has been starring in the French league with Toulouse.

"I switched from Rugby Union when Rugby League was introduced to Russia in 1990," he added: "I prefer Rugby League."

Teamate Ian Rubin, in contrast, is an experienced professional. The Sydney City Roosters star was born in Russia but his family moved down under when he was just four.

He was approached to captain the Russian squad after missing out on selection for the Aussie team he will face in Hull next month.

"We've just started training together, and there's a mix of lads who don't speak any English and lads who don't speak any Russian, but we're coping well. I'm not sure how well known we are in Lancaster, but I hope people will get behind it. It's a really nice city, especially when the weather's good. We had a look around a lot of the pubs when we got here, places like the Walkabout and the Friary and Firkin."

The Russians will stay in Lancaster for the next week before moving on to Hull for their final group match against Australia.