New Gordonians captain Danny Osugo believes the daunting challenge of playing in National 2 is both exciting and terrifying as the National 3 champions get their league campaign under way tomorrow.
Coach Ryan Morrice led his side to title glory last season but a 49-5 mauling at fellow National 2 club Hamilton Bulls in the National League Cup last week emphasised the size of the task the newcomers face this season.
Osugo, who succeeds Tom Williams as captain at Countesswells, is relishing the opportunity.
He said: “I’ll do the job this year and we’ll see how it goes. Not knowing what lies ahead is exciting but it is also terrifying. If we are going to consolidate our place in National 2 we will have to perform every week.
“Tom has given a lot in the last five years and has been a great captain. Along with Ryan he has led this club from the Caley leagues to National 2 and it will be hard to follow in his footsteps.
“I was vice-captain last year and we have two vice-captains supporting me this season in Andrew McInnes and Matthew Hillier.
“We’ve had the same senior group of players at the club for a while but if we are to improve our infrastructure and have any chance of moving up another level we need the younger players to get involved.”
Left winger Osugo hopes lessons have been learned from the cup loss when his side welcome Peebles to Countesswells tomorrow.
He said: “We’re where we deserve to be but last week’s defeat at Hamilton is a wake-up call. There were a lot of factors but having watched the game back we didn’t cope with the physical element which every team in this league seems to have.
“Hamilton are a little unlucky to be in National 2 as they have a great set-up, a huge catchment area and are one of the biggest clubs in Scottish rugby.
“But what they have done is make us ware we’ve got to be better physically as teams in this division are going to ruthlessly punish us if we’re not.
“We’ll have the smallest pack in the league but we have to compete by matching the workrate and aggression of our opponents.
“We feel we can match up in the wider aspects of rugby but as a team we have to front up every week.”
