Gibbins chasing glory in DC

CALLUM Gibbins is looking forward to a new chapter of his career as he prepares to move to Major League Rugby in America with Old Glory DC.

New Zealander Gibbins spent the last three years at Glasgow Warriors, captaining the side alongside Ryan Wilson, but his contract was not renewed when Danny Wilson took over from Dave Rennie as head coach in the summer.

“I was pretty disappointed but I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to come,” Gibbin said. “It wasn’t right for them and I’ve no ill feeling towards them.

“I am just thankful I had the chance to come here in the first place – it has been three years, but it’s gone so quick and it’s been a hell of a ride. I’ve met some amazing people, so I’ve got great memories.”

Gibbins, 32, worked closely with fellow Kiwi Rennie during his time at Scotstoun and believes the criticism levelled by some players towards the current Australia boss is unfair.

“Dave is a great communicator,” he said. “Towards the end of my time at Glasgow my form wasn’t great and he put me to the bench, but he always told me why.

“I think as a player your ego sometimes gets in the way but at the end of the day I wasn’t playing well enough and he told me that straight to my face.

“As you can see with what he’s done with Australia, he’s been great for me.”

After being told his time at Glasgow was at an end, the 32-year-old flanker was keen to stay in Europe, but with recruitment largely on hold as a result of the pandemic, offers were few and far between.

“I worked quite hard with my agent but nothing really came up – we looked in Japan but there was nothing there and then I spoke to John Manson (former Glasgow team manager, seconded to Old Glory DC).

“I said to him that I’d be keen to move out to the States so when he rang and asked if I would go out and play I thought it would be a great opportunity.”

Having moved to Glasgow from the Highlanders, Gibbins has experience of the top competitions in world rugby, but he’s looking forward to getting stuck into a relatively new one when the MLR season kicks off in March.

“It’s a new competition so it is exciting and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

“With a team like DC that played only five games in their first season last year, it’s really exciting to have that base to work on and it would be great to push for the championship.”