It has been a familiar story for the Concordia Stingers men’s rugby team the past two seasons. Two consecutive trips to the RSEQ conference finals. Two consecutive losses to crosstown rivals, the McGill Redmen.
Stingers head coach Clive Gibson wants to write a new ending for 2012.
“When you’re always the bridesmaid and never the bride that starts to get on your nerves,” said Gibson. “It doesn’t matter who you’re losing to. It’s not ‘this time we need to beat McGill’, we just need to go for gold no matter who we play. No more of this silver stuff.”
Fourth-year flanker Dario Pellizzari is the captain of the team. Like, the coach, he’s tired of falling short and expects his team to leave it all on the field in 2012.
“It’s two years straight we lost to them, so I think the team’s learned a lot,” said Pellizzari. “I think the guys this year know how to deal with adversity and know what it takes to make the next step.”
The Stingers’ recipe for success this year will have some different ingredients. Eleven players are gone from last season, including the team’s two captains, prop Jimmy Bang and centre Jonathan Dextras-Romagnino. Also gone are the team’s leading scorer, fly half Adriano D’Angelo, who recorded 22 points last season,, and Kevin Elliott, the team’s third leading scorer.
Despite a high turnover, Gibson is confident many of the Stingers’ first year players, like prop Joseph Munro, centre Aaron Grunfeld and scrum half Trystan Hall, can step in and fill the void.
The coach will rely heavily on returning players like Pellizzari and winger Frederic Kacou who led the Stingers in tries last season. After a brief absence, second-row Marc Roche is back with the Stingers as he returns to Concordia for graduate school. Gibson expects him to be the team’s “elder statesman” providing valuable leadership.
Even with all the new faces Gibson is ecstatic with the cohesion he’s seen from his team in what he described as one of the best training camps during in his tenure at Concordia.
“I am extremely excited about this year because we are experiencing what I think is one of the strongest team dynamics that we have ever had,” he said.
Concordia will try to avenge last year’s championship loss to McGill at home Wednesday at 7 p.m.
