Kellock longs to make Heineken impact

GLASGOW and Scotland captain Alastair Kellock has become a regular and respected presence at Heineken Cup launches, but the 30-year-old admitted at Twickenham that he wants more than anything to attend one as part of the top eight sides in the tournament.

Kellock left the Rugby World Cup devastated at Scotland’s failure to reach the quarter-finals, especially knowing that he might never be back at the event, and while he is hopeful of a few more years in the Heineken Cup, time is running out to rekindle the experience he savoured with Edinburgh in 2004 of playing in a quarter-final.

Glasgow start at home to Bath on Sunday 13 November and then travel the following Sunday to Leinster, the reigning champions, who kick off against tournament newcomers Montpellier, chasing a third title in four seasons. The fast-rising French stars of Montpellier lie in wait in December, so the Warriors do not need to look far for sizeable scalps.

Kellock speaks well, paying tribute to the competition and opponents, but one can sense the frustration and impatience beneath the surface at talking about Glasgow’s potential to claim them.

“I am well used to launches now and they are enjoyable affairs,” he said, “but it’s not what we play the game for.

“We play to win games, to win trophies and be successful and that is what you want to be talking about.

“Of course, it is great to be part of the Heineken Cup and to be interviewed countless times about what we think about Bath, Leinster and Montpellier, and it is great for the club, the players and our supporters to have these big games to look forward to, but for me it’s going to be about taking the lessons we have learned in the past into these matches and turning them into wins.

“We have shown in the last few years that we can compete with the best sides and have pulled off some great results, against Wasps and Toulouse notably, but the most disappointing aspect has been that while they were deserved wins against teams that had a lot to lose, it didn’t make a difference to us qualifying.”

So, what are the lessons?

“The obvious one is not leaving the big performances until the last few games, but start well. Bath at home and then Leinster away is tough, but it comes down to us starting better than they do,” he added.

“We competed well against Bath at the Rec a couple of years ago, and it was a great day for Ruaridh Jackson, who was outstanding.

“They are a quality European team but we have to believe we can get off to a good start having them at home.

“What I think we learned from the wins, and the defeats, is that we can’t worry about what they might bring to us, and concentrate on what we take to them.

“We threw everything at Wasps, and were even resting a few players that day, and in Toulouse we went out there with the mindset that there was no pressure on us and we just took them on. The other big lesson I’ve taken, from the World Cup as well, is how the small the margins are between winning and losing. It comes down to little things. Get those right and you win.

“Look at the group and size of the teams in it and no-one probably expects us to top it, but we can. The pressure is not on us so we have to use that to play our way.”

Glasgow coach Sean Lineen was keeping tight-lipped yesterday on the possibility of adding a new player to the squad after DTH van der Merwe was ruled out at least until next year with a shoulder injury and left out of the Heineken Cup squad. But it is possible that he may look for a loan deal to add strength to the back line.

The tournament continues to grow in popularity and will break new ground this season with Kelly Brown and his Premiership champions Saracens heading to Cape Town in South Africa in January to ‘host’ their Pool 5 clash with Biarritz. It was a lot to take in at the launch for Edinburgh’s new skipper, Greig Laidlaw.

But, having just turned 26, the nuggety Borderer soaked up the atmosphere amid the announcements around the 17th staging of the Heineken Cup and the talk of the road to the Twickenham final, imagining how much of that road his Edinburgh side might travel.

What the tournament brings, he said, was an opportunity to freshen up his team-mates, with the very appetising motivation of toppling the likes of London Irish, Cardiff and Racing Metro.

“There is no hiding from the fact that it’s a tough pool, but then every pool is tough in this competition,” he said.

“Like Al says, I don’t think we’ll be expected to win it, but that suits me. It will be a big challenge for us and our form in the league so far hasn’t been the best, but I see this a great refresher; a cup competition to turn the focus to and maybe help provide a spark to lift ourselves, and, with just six pool games in blocks of two, we can really attack them.”

Laidlaw allows himself a wry laugh when asked if he believes avoiding the likes of Leicester, Bath, Munster, Leinster and Toulouse made this a good draw for the capital side.

“If anyone in our squad sees this as slightly easier than it could have been they’re going to get a big wake-up call. We’ve got London Irish away first-up and they play an expansive game, as we do, so that should be a good game, but they don’t get beaten at home often, do they?

“Racing Metro – will they travel well? Most French teams do these days and even if they don’t they’ll be tough nuts to crack at home. And Cardiff have turned us over a few times. There are no mugs in this competition.

“I’m sure they will be thinking ‘we have Edinburgh and that’s a good opportunity’ because of where we sit in the RaboDirect Pro 12, and our recent record in Europe.”

He continued: “But we have a good squad and, like Glasgow, for us it’s about learning from lessons on how to turn close games into winning games. We showed against Leinster again on Friday night that we’re a good attacking side, but it looked at times like we couldn’t defend and we gave away penalties that killed us.

“This weekend will be a good test before we start getting carried away thinking about Europe. We’re going to a Treviso side that took 50 points off the Dragons on the weekend past, so we’re under no illusions about how tough that will be.

“The Heineken Cup is going to be a great experience, but we want to make a mark in it so we need to get the confidence and momentum going. That means starting to win games now.”