La Revista de Sotogrande / Rugby
XV Rocks take to the field The 6th Ciudad de San Roque Tournament has marked a turning point in the short but intense life of the Rugby Rocks franchise. Their team, XV Rocks, were officially presented at the Rugby Ground and from now on the objectives and deadlines will intensify. Under the leadership of the Irishman Eoin Costigan, who until recently played for some of Spain’s top teams and even represented Spain, XV Rocks have their sights set on the forthcoming Liga Super Ibérica.
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n his first experience as a coach and with a great deal of enthusiasm, Costiga is working on this first stage with a line-up of players from Campo de Gibraltar’s rugby teams, with the idea of including them in a permanent squad, which will also comprise foreign rugby layers, to confront the demanding Liga Super Ibérica. “I’m really excited because I think it’s a very interesting project. Rugby has a lot of potential in Campo de Gibraltar and there has perhaps been a lack of organisation in recent years. I think that a project like the Rocks initiative will excite people and achieve very good things”, Costigan said to the Sotogrande Magazine. “We believe that working with local teams and players is very important. This is our first official activity [referring to the Ciudad de San Roque Tournament] and from now on we will prepare an intensive programme for the season so that we have good communication with local teams and players and to create the right working environment”, he added.
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The plan that the Irish coach refers to will comprise a special physical conditioning programme for local players (envisaged for before Christmas) and a number of events, similar to the Ciudad de San Roque Tournament, to work towards forming a permanent squad for the Super Ibérica starting in March, made up of players selected from Campo de Gibraltar and overseas. “Both for the quality and quantity of the squad, we will have to sign foreign players”, Costigan explains. “The franchises that will make up the Super Ibérica league are based on teams from the División de Honor A, Spanish rugby’s top flight. Rugby Rocks’ problem is that in the Campo de Gibraltar area there is no single team that is strong enough for the franchise to be based exclusively on one club, which is why we will have to sign foreign rugby players who will come primarily from Argentina and Ireland, two world forces in the sport”.
For this ‘recruitment’, the support of the Argentine Gonzalo Quesada, a former Pumas international and current France coach, is essential. Quesada is collaborating actively with Rugby Rocks and, in Costigan’s view, his contribution “is very important because he’s a person with a wealth of experience in topflight rugby. We are going to draw on his knowledge in various fields, such as strategic planning for training and preparation for the season and match analysis, and since he has a lot of contacts in France and Argentina he will also help us to select foreign players”. XV Rocks have taken to the field and with the hard work and effort of their members the dream of competing in the demanding Liga Super Ibérica has now come true. ■