New head coach Gavin Blackburn says teams will see a very different Cambuslang Rugby Club, and has targeted wins that can see them climb the Tennent’s West League 1 table.
Former Glasgow Warriors tighthead prop Blackburn made his dug-out debut in Saturday’s 29-10 defeat at home to third-placed Stewartry, and says he saw enough in the performance to give him confidence.
And Blackburn has set his sights on beating Irvine on Saturday, who sit two places and seven points above them .
He said: “We’re going there to win.
“I’m here to win games.
“The players have shown both in training sessions and in the game on Saturday that they have loads of rugby in them – we just need to put in place some structures that maximise their playing ability, and I’m sure we’ll pick up more points than we’ll lose, going forward.
“There were a lot of positives that came out of Saturday; the physicality in defence was excellent.
“We were up against a top-three side, who have had some very good results, and we coped with them defensively for large parts of the first half.
“Going into the second half things maybe opened up a wee bit for them, because of the amount of effort the boys had put in during the first half, but defensively we were very strong.
“Another positive was how we kept the ball in the last quarter of the game and we scored two very good tries, which showed that the boys can play good rugby.”
Blackburn added: “The first game was always going to be about trying to get a reaction from the boys and get a performance, and they did that ten-fold.
“The effort that they gave was excellent and it bodes well, going forward.
“It bodes well, going forward. We still have the teams to play above us, and we will be a different team this time around.
“I think the boys showed that they have a desire to improve, to learn, and it was a more than positive performance.”
Blackburn, who also starred for London Scottish, and has coaching experience with Scottish Rugby and with Biggar, took over from Alex Donaghy last week, and said there was no hesitation on his part.
“We were in a precarious position, sitting bottom of the league with no points, and a lot of coaches wouldn’t want to put their name to that.
“But I’ve been out of senior coaching for nearly three seasons and I didn’t think about it twice.
“The way I see it is that there is an opportunity there. The playing squad is there, the facilities are there, so it was a no-brainer, really.”
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