Fired-up Glasgow skipper Al Kellock has backed Chris Fusaro to be this season’s Warriors rugby superstar.
Kellock’s troops launch their Pro12 campaign on Friday against new-look Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun. And he believes fit-again flanker Fusaro is the man who can spearhead their quest for glory, both in the league and on the Euro stage.
Fusaro will be keen to make up for lost time, missing a chunk of last term with a groin problem, but captain Kellock is convinced he will be back an even better player.
He said: “I think Chris will be the man this season. He is obviously fairly well-known already and he has an incredibly good work ethic. I love playing with him in my team.
“You have to drag him off the park at the end of the game he leaves nothing out there. Regardless of how much talent or experience we have, it is important that we give our absolute all on the park.
“He personifies that.”
Kellock led his squad to the play-offs in May and he has set his sights on going the whole way this time round.
He added: “We want to do better than we did last year and the year before,” said Kellock. “We want to get past the semi-final.
“We want to get that home semi-final and take it from there. I think we have improved as players with the experience we gained last season.
“The guys who were going into it for the first time have done it now. We have probably learned our biggest lessons from losing the games.
“For example, we had every opportunity to win that play-off game against Leinster in Dublin, but we didn’t grab it. All of a sudden we were at the end of the match talking about what could have been instead of what was.
“The big thing for us this year is to go from having reasonable success to the biggest success we can have and win it.”
l Scotland lock Jim Hamilton faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury as Montpellier survived a late collapse to post their first Top 14 win of the season.
Montpellier led 33-3 with 25 minutes to play, but were forced to hold on before eventually seeing off Brive 33-24.
The extent of Hamilton’s problem will become clearer after examinations set to be carried out today but the 30-year-old will miss Wednesday’s trip to face Bordeaux-Begles and could be out of action for several weeks.