When Glasgow and Scotland captain Al Kellock stops himself when talking about his team’s run, you just know there’s much more to come from the Warriors heading into tonight’s first leg of the 1872 Cup matches against Edinburgh.
With one loss in 10 games, Kellock’s Glasgow might be regarded as the form team for the first of the intercity clashes, but it’s stylish Edinburgh who are getting most of the plaudits.
The capital side’s prolific try-scoring Dutch wing, Tim Visser, points out that Glasgow ”have been winning games by defending” and while the Warriors get a bit defensive about their pragmatic style, they know that they have something to prove.
”It’s a great time to be here,” said Kellock. “The performances ” no, the results we’ve had, the signings we’ve made in the last couple of weeks. This is the busiest time of year for us and also one of the best, and the 1872 games come right in the middle of it.”
He added: ”Edinburgh are playing good rugby, no question, but we know how much we can improve. If we keep winning it’s certainly not the end of the world, but we’d like to win with a better style of performance.”
The visiting skipper thinks that the ”trial” aspect is relevant, but doesn’t believe the focus should shift from this being league business.
Kellock said: ”It’s there, as this is probably the only chance for the national coaches to see some of the guys one-on-one, head-to-head but it can’t be a focus.
”There’s a hundred things these games bring that normal ones don’t. For me first and foremost it’s league points we’re pleased with where we are in the league at the moment and we want to improve.”
He added: ”There’s definitely an element of not getting carried away with the fixture and I’ve played enough of them to know all about that.
”Focus on yourself and what you have to do to beat the opposition as you do every week all the added extras, if you use them properly then you’ll improve your game.”
Kellock, however, enjoys these matches as much as any throughout the season.
He said: ”The back-to-back games have added enormously to the fixture, and probably the biggest thing is the buy-in from the fans there’s a real buzz about these games.
”Our supporters will tell you we have an advantage through them because they’re very noisy and vocal, especially when you’re away from home, but we’ll see.
”At the moment we’re in a good league position, but we have to aim to still be there going into the last four games, and Edinburgh are the same.”
Visser comes in after possibly his worst performance of the season, but the wing’s influence is such that even in a bad game he scored the match-winning try against Cardiff.
He said: ”It was a bad game from my perspective, but then, coming away with the win and a match-winning try? If that’s a bad game for me these days then I can be happy.
”But yes, I was annoyed, I dropped a few balls. I managed to catch the hardest cross-field kick I’ve ever seen and then I dropped the easiest one.”
Visser remains on course for Scotland recognition in June when his residential eligibility kicks in but is trying hard to stay on the matters at hand.
He said: ”It’s in the back of my mind, people are talking about it and there’s a lot of hype. But I can’t concentrate on that because I have to perform for Edinburgh.”
Edinburgh look likely to be without Scotland prop Allan Jacobsen ,who has failed to recover from a head knock, and fellow cap Kyle Traynor will start at loose-head.