IN one way, Glasgow Warriors have already made history even before they head into tomorrow's clash with Leicester knowing that a win or draw would put them into their first quarter-final in the European Champions Cup or its earlier equivalents.

For the first time they have been able to prepare all week, knowing their fate is in their own hands. The only way results in other pools could affect them would be in the case of a defeat, in which case they still have a chance of going through but it would be out of their control.

The nearest Glasgow have been to this position before came two years ago when they travelled to Bath.

By the time the match started results earlier that weekend meant a win was enough to put them through and, by the time news filtered through that Toulouse had unexpectedly lost in Montpellier, a win would have seen them top the pool.

Only they did not win. In a match that demonstrated just how fine the margins at this level are, they played most of the rugby but a misfiring scrum and some near-misses meant they went down 20-15.

"I remember watching that game," recalls Chris Fusaro, the flanker who was one of many injuries at the time. "Sean Maitland got held up short of the line by a couple of inches. If he'd scored that try we would have gone through.

"I guess you say that sometimes its luck. We will leave no stone unturned. All we can do is prepare, go down there and perform as best we can. We believe that if we can play to our potential we can beat Leicester."

The big difference this time is that they have known all week what they needed to do and have been able to focus on nothing else. That started with the innovation for this season's European campaign when they came in to camp overnight on Monday to review the events of last weekend and start to prepare for the Welford Road challenge.

"It lets us go through a lot more detail," explained Fusaro. "Last Monday we covered the Munster game and then we went on to do Leicester as well. So its essentially an extra day's preparation. You can cover things that night so training the next day is a bit more efficient, a bit sharper.

"We are a bit desperate, we have been so close in the last couple of seasons, so to get to the last game and know that if we win we go through there is a lot of excitement. That is why our preparation is so important. Training has been good, we are in a good place. There is a lot of energy even though we lost the [Munster] game.

"The boys are feeling good because they know what is coming and what we can achieve if we play to our best."

They did thrash Leicester in the home tie of this season's competition but Fusaro knows that means nothing. A couple of years ago the same was true when they played Bath and it did not stop them losing the English leg.

"Its something we have talked about," Fusaro said. "Their record at home is pretty amazing so we are going down to Welford Road expecting a very different animal to what was up here.

"It's quite a hostile ground, the pitch is a bit narrower, so I think they will try to target us up front again. It will be a very phsyical game."

If it is a forward battle, however, there does seem to be a new resilience about the Glasgow forwards this season. Racing 92 did the same and came off second best in both encounters.

"I wasn't involved, but you see the effort in defence. It was incredible from the boys, who really did put their bodies on the line. That really did help so we can draw from that experience," Fusaro added.

The frustrating thing is that they know they could have been travelling to Leicester already guaranteed a place in the quarter-finals and shooting for a top seeding if they had not messed up the finale against Munster last weekend.

Fusaro is confident there will be no hangover. "I think the young guys recover quicker than the older boys," he suggested. "Mentally maybe they don't have as much experience as the older guys.

"We have a saying in Glasgow, 'if you make a mistake, it's about the next job' – forgetting about the thing that you have done and making sure your next action is a positive one.

"All the young guys are very responsive to all that. Its just a question of the senior guys helping them out, which we are very good at at Glasgow, because we have all come through that. We can pass on our experiences on."