By JON NEWCOMBE
Round-up
RUSSIA’S chances of taking the direct route to Rugby World Cup 2019 were left in tatters after a controversial 20-13 defeat at home to Spain in the opening round of the Rugby Europe Championship.
The Bears looked to have scored a certain try, and given themselves the chance to draw the game, when replacement forward Tagir Gadzhiev picked up the ball from the base of a ruck and clearly planted the ball over the line with a few minutes of the bruising contest remaining.
Yuri Kushnarev would have been left with the simplest of conversions to tie the scores at 20-...