Club Captain Interview: Rugby

After the mad rush that was Issue 1500, the Club Captains are back for a third interview! This week we feature the Captain of the Imperial College Rugby Union Football Club (to give him his full title), Charlie Esberger.

We manage to meet up briefly on Wednesday, just before the 1sts match against St Bart’s and the Royal London Hospitals 1st. At the time of the interview, ICRUFC were sitting mid-table in the South Eastern 1A division, while St Bart’s were first.

His thoughts on the afternoon’s match? “It’s going to be a close one, the last time we played them we dominated but threw away some points towards the end and lost it.” Definitely up for a spot of revenge then. (In the event, the match is an emphatic win as IC run away with it, 59-10 – Ed.)

I ask him how the start of the season has gone for the first XV. “We’ve played four matches so far, and won three of those. We were disappointed to lose a tight match to St Bart’s (as mentioned above – Ed.) but followed that up with a great win against St Mary’s. We all hate St Mary’s, none more so than our coach Birkett.” Any particular reason for the animosity? “They’re just really gobby – they think they’re the dog’s bollocks. Also, we’ve had some good, physical games against them in the past.” Ah, nothing like a good rivalry to spice things up a bit (although Charlie tells me Portsmouth aren’t very high up his list of friends either).

While the firsts are evidently doing well, having now won four out of five, I ask about the fortunes of the other IC Rugby teams.

Obviously this season we want to go up... we want to make every session count

“The 2nd XV have had a decent start, and sit second in their league (South Eastern 3B – Ed.). They’re pushing to go back up after relegation last season. The 3rd XV have started slowly, but will push on from here.”

As he mentioned that the 2nd team are aiming for re-promotion, I ask what the team’s objectives are for this season. They have finished second in their division for the past two years, and Charlie seems determined to get it this year: “Obviously this season we want to go up. We’re trying to make every session count by making sure everyone is there and organising things to target specific areas of our gameplay.”

“We train Monday and Friday evenings, while the 1st XV forwards also drill the lineout on Tuesday mornings. We have 4 coaches: Rich Birkett – current Wasps 2nd row (Heineken Cup & Premiership winner); Brimah Kebbie, who is a club legend and has been around longer than anyone can remember, an ex-rugby league professional; Ed Burt, who specialises in video analysis and is employed by Wasps; finally Joe Brown who graduated from here in 2010 and now plays for Esher in the championship.” I can’t help but be impressed at the depth of the coaching staff. Surely the 1sts will get promotion this year.

Having said that, a team is only as good as its players. Has anyone distinguished themselves so far this season?

“Sean Baker is a complete animal on the pitch and has been excellent. Probably player of the season so far, played across the back row and even filled in at loosehead. Billy & Hugh G have also been omnipresent and made a massive difference on and off the pitch.” Evidently the captain thinks highly of his men.

As far as the off-pitch aspect is concerned, we all know the rugby lads know how to make themselves heard at ACC nights. I ask Charlie how the new bar night policy affects the club and what he thinks about it. “I don’t know the ins and outs of the situation,” he says, “but it strikes me as a shame. Maybe changes were necessary, but the vast majority of people think it has gone too far. The most the most frustrating thing is when the policy makers repeatedly try and fob us off – people aren’t stupid.”

Turning back to the lighter side of things, I get the captain to tell a bit more about himself. A fourth-year physicist, he started playing rugby at school, at Trent College. Has it always been this serious?

“Everybody took it seriously there, so I guess I always have and just continued on with that at Imperial.”

Finally, being French, and with the World Cup just over, I can’t resist picking his brains on England’s performance. Does he think Martin Johnson is doing a decent job, despite what could be called an ‘early’ exit? “Well, over the course of Johnson’s reign we’ve definitely improved. I guess his challenge is to motivate the players he has, and find the new ones to keep on improving ahead of the Six Nations and ultimately the next World Cup. I think some of his selections surprised some people, squad and teams as well as substitutions.” Not condemnation, but not entirely approval, either.

Good luck to ICRUFC for the season ahead, and here’s to promotion!