HUDDERSFIELD Giants' three England squad men, Paul Reilly, Eorl Crabtree and Stuart Jones, have the BBC to thank for their intriguing trip to Russia.

The trio were among a 20-man squad which jetted out today for Sunday's European Nations Cup clash on a synthetic pitch at Moscow's Olympic Stadium.

The story of Russian rugby league began in 1990, when the country's rugby union boss Victor Maslov became interested in the 13-man code while watching the BBC.

He was so impressed he quit his union post and teamed up with 15-a-side president Edgar Tatourian to form the first USSR rugby league competition.

As a string of union officials jumped ship to join the new body, the three original teams, Moscow Magicians, Leningrad and Tiraspol, were sent to England to learn some of the code's finer points.

Within 12 months, there were seven teams, visits from English clubs York and Fulham and the formation of a national team, whose first match was in France.

Russia headed to Sydney for the World Sevens in 1992, then toured France, who later made a return visit, and South Africa.

While the domestic league continued to flourish, the national side, who had become known as the Bears, gained a first victory, beating USA 19-12 in San Francisco.

That result sealed the team's inclusion in the 1995 Emerging Nations World Cup, held in England, when the USA were beaten again, this time 28-26.

With the creation of Super League rugby in both Britain and Australia in 1996 taking the attention of the sport's world-level bosses, the Russians were left to fend for themselves for a period.

But by 2000, they were back on the international scene, going to France to play lead-up matches for the 2000 World Cup in Britain and Ireland, to which they were surprisingly admitted.

Hardly surprisingly, they lost all three matches, against Fiji, England and Australia, but the fillip given to the game domestically means there are now 10,000 registered players.

Russia created the Victory Cup, which this year they won by beating a BARLA representative team, and they now have two representatives in the Powergen Challenge Cup (last season Locomotiv Moscow lost 54-6 at Chorley Lynx in the third round while Dynamo Moscow went down 60-24 at Rochdale Hornets).

Their inclusion as one of six teams in the ongoing European Nations Cup (they went down 58-10 at home to France in last week's opener) shows how seriously they are being taken by the powers-that-be.

While full-back Reilly, at 28, the oldest member of the England squad, prop Crabtree and second row Jones will all hope for a taste of the action in Moscow, their Giants teammate Hefin O'Hare is likely to be on the wing when Wales take on Scotland in Glasgow in Sunday's other game.

Wales, whose squad also includes Huddersfield-based Halifax coach Anthony Farrell, will be aiming to hit back after losing 25-12 to Ireland in Aberavon last weekend.

Farrell could come face-to-face with Halifax teammate Jamie Bloem, a former Giants player, who provides vital experience to the Scotland squad.

Each of the six nations play two matches, with the top team, in the Wales, Ireland, Scotland pool taking on their counterparts in the section made up of England, Russia and France in the final.

That's at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium a fortnight on Sunday, November 7.

A week tomorrow, England face France in Avingnon in the final Group II game.

The final Group I game is between Ireland and Wales at Navan, near Dublin, a week on Sunday.