Chris Fusaro packs a punch for young guns of Glasgow

A FUNNY thing is happening at Glasgow. The older, experienced players who should be driving the squad forward are dropping like flies, afflicted by a collective malaise, and in their place the young bucks are making the running.

In the front row Moray Low is a shadow of the man who locked the scrum against the Pumas in the 2010 Test series win, with just one game for Glasgow this season, off the bench at that. Johnnie Beattie has been helping Ayr in the British and Irish competition which is not what anyone expected when wishing him a successful cup-run this time last year, and hooker Dougie Hall may have 37 caps but he makes just his second start for Glasgow this season after Pat MacArthur did a stand-up job as his stand-in. John Barclay was subbed at half-time in the Heineken Cup loss to Leinster and skipper Al Kellock followed him off the field on 54 minutes.

Four years away from the next World Cup is as good a time as any to shake things up and one of the younger mob coming into Glasgow’s XV today against the Dragons is flanker Chris Fusaro, who takes over at openside from an out-of-sorts Barclay. A sixth consecutive league win today would match Glasgow’s best ever showing.

After failing to merit a start all last season, the World Cup has allowed Fusaro six so far in the current campaign and the little buzz-bomb gets another chance to impress this afternoon at Rodney Parade. It is Fusaro’s first start for Glasgow with Barclay fit and available for selection, not that younger man reads too much into this.

“When the boys were away at the World Cup everyone who was left behind grabbed their chance,” says Fusaro. “That’s enabled Sean [Lineen, the coach] to rotate the team and keep everyone fresh. He’s got more depth in the squad than last season because the younger boys have stood up and been counted.”

As has Fusaro, not that you’d notice since he’s small by any standard and if he comes anywhere near his given height of 5ft 11in it is only after borrowing Nicolas Sarkozy’s platform heels. He follows in the footsteps of Donnie Macfadyen, another pocket dynamo from the west. If anything Fusaro is quicker over the ground than his predecessor and a good bit quicker with his fists, as Scott MacLeod discovered in last year’s derby.

Having failed to start a game all last season, when Fusaro was summoned off the bench in the Glasgow/Edinburgh match his frustration bubbled to the surface. In what must be some sort of record Fusaro was summoned on to the field on 79 minutes and was dismissed on 80.

“Edinburgh/Glasgow derbies are always highly charged affairs,” he says. “Something happened at a lineout and I reacted, which I shouldn’t have done. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was very frustrated at the time with the lack of opportunity but I’d like to think that this season I’ve been given a chance to show what I can do and I’ve put a marker down.”

Some of the squad may not share Fusaro’s sunny disposition because if you thought that the life of a pro sportsman was all glamour the travelling required in the RaboDirect would soon wipe the smile off Alan Whicker’s face. The boys were up at 5am yesterday for a 7am flight to Wales. They stayed two nights in Cross Keys and won’t get home until 11am on Monday. But if the Warriors can extend that winning run to six in the league they will be sporting broad smiles upon their return, whatever the hour.