Kharkiv rugby players have won the Ukrainian Cup. Today, RC Olymp (Kharkiv) has become the winner of the 2017 Ukrainian Cup in classical rugby on taking all the trophies of this sports season. The team played its second final against the team of Odesa and was able to win a victory over a strong competitor, the score being 31:27. Oleksandr Yaroslavsky’s Olymp (the businessman has been the club’s only President throughout its history) is known to have won the championships of Ukraine in rugby-7 and rugby-15 and to have received the Ukrainian Cup in rugby-7.
The match in Odesa turned out to be more than tense. The Kharkiv players started the game with two tries, two converts and two well-struck penalties that made it possible to score 18 points. The hosts responded with two tries and successful converts. The Kharkiv players managed to bring up the score and to start the break with the score of 24:14 for Olymp due to two penalties that were perfectly struck by the best hooker of the team, Oleg Kosarev.
After the break, there was a grounding by Novokreshtchenov, two penalties and a convert that made it possible for the hosts to take the lead; yet it was Olymp that had the final word. Oleg Kosarev grounded the "melon" in the rivals’ in-goal, thus making the final score of the match and securing Olymp’s victory with the score of 31:27.
- It was a difficult match. We competed against a strong team that had been trained fairly well. Despite our players’ mistakes we managed to win the victory and to get the Ukrainian Cup. We are looking forward to playing complex and crucial matches as part of the Ukrainian national team. On October 28, we are to repel the Swedish national team within the framework of the European championship, Valeriy Kochanov, RC Olymp’s chief coach said.
We would like to remind our readers that today Olymp is the best award-winning rugby club of Ukraine that has 13 champions’ titles in rugby-15 and eight champions’ titles in rugby-7 to its credit. The Kharkiv sportsmen have become the Ukrainian Cup holders in rugby-7 five times and nine times in rugby-15. Besides, Olymp is the basis of the Ukrainian national team with its chief coach Valeriy Kochanov and key players being part of the team.
