Despite being bombed, the national players are a source of pride as they travel to France for World Cup qualifiers

By Gavin Willacy for No Helmets Required

A little over two weeks ago, Vitalii Puchkov’s mother was killed by a rocket that hit her home in Kharkiv. On Tuesday night Puchkov will line up at right-centre against a team of Super League stalwarts in a World Cup qualifier against France. Ukraine will be led by their captain, Oleksandr Skorbach, the Kharkiv Legion XIII five-eighth, who has moved his wife, young child and new baby to Kyiv and could be forgiven if he failed to be fully focused on rugby.

“Kharkiv is under attack every day – it is too dangerous to stay there – so it is very difficult to not pay attention to this,” admitted Skorbach via the team interpreter. “Some of the boys are not able to participate in the competition as they are protecting the Ukraine in our military and we are so thankful to them. We lost one player when his whole family were killed by a rocket. We are playing for them.”