After losing the Quebec university men’s rugby final to the McGill Redmen last year, Concordia Stingers head coach Clive Gibson says his team has changed its game plan and style of play.
“We lost a lot of size and weight,” he said. “We had to make some changes to maximize the physical potential of the athletes we have.”
Last Sunday in Sherbrooke versus the Vert & Or, the Stingers put their new strategy to the test. In the first half, Gibson didn’t see any of the game plan coming into play. Once the team settled down after halftime, the results were better.
“They had permission to fail as long as they followed the plan,” Gibson said. “We don’t want them to want to fail, but if they go out and do what we planned to do and it doesn’t work that provides us with feedback and we can tweak it. If they go out and don’t do what we planned that doesn’t give us feedback and won’t bring us success.”
Concordia came out of Sherbrooke with a 17-5 win in the season-opener. Next up the Stingers host the Bishop’s Gaiters in their home opener at Concordia stadium tonight at 9.
Gibson will rely on his two co-captains centre Jonathan Dextras-Romagnino and prop Jimmy Bang to help keep the team moving forward.
“We want both of them to step up and play a valuable role,” he said. “We want them to take a real leadership role and lead by example.”
Among the newcomers, fullback Kevin Elliot in one of the players Gibson is counting on to make a contribution this season. The veteran coach says it has been a long time since the team had someone with his talent at the fullback position. If he can step up and perform at a high level, it will go a long way.
“Our goal is to go out and try to bring back a banner,” Gibson said.
The team will take it one step at a time, beginning with Bishop’s tonight. Concordia is prepared for the Gaiters who lost their opening game to McGill 26-10.
“We have the film and can see what happened, but we expect them to come out better than they looked against McGill,” Gibson said.
The last time the two teams met was in the conference semifinal game last Nov. 7 when the Stingers eked out a 13-12 victory.
