The more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same in many ways during Chris Fusaro’s lengthy career with Glasgow Warriors, but the openside flanker has better reason than most to remember the last time they won in Dublin.
Properly establishing himself that season, the Fifer would be voted player of the year by both supporters and his fellow players, while their away win at Leinster was something they have been unable to repeat since.
“I remember it fondly. Our internationals were away at the World Cup and Leinster were obviously in a similar boat, so it was our young team against their young team and we went over there and beat them off the back of three losses as well, so it was brilliant,” he said.“Bar the year we won the final, that’s probably my favourite season at Glasgow, being a young guy and playing most of the games that season. It was just really good fun. We were underdogs a wee bit, so you played with a bit more freedom and managed to make the play-offs in Sean Lineen’s last season.
That was two coaches ago, though and in competitive terms little has changed in the interim, the perennial Pro14 play-off contenders once again looking to make up for European disappointment as we move into the business end of the season.
“This is another chance to have a crack at one of Europe’s best sides,” said Fusaro.“Against Saracens in the quarter-final it just wasn’t us, we didn’t show what we could do, so this is a chance to go out and do it against a strong Leinster side looking to build momentum going into a European game and we need to go there and win, we can’t hide from that.”
Doing so is their best chance of avoiding the uninviting prospect of returning to Dublin for a knockout tie in the semi-finals and Fusaro reckons that if they are to do so there are lessons to be drawn from the way they won back in 2011.
“We were relentless and didn’t give them any breathing space,” he said of that encounter.“We played with quick ball and our defence was good. We had a good line speed and put them under a lot of pressure and you saw that against Ulster (last week), when we got good line speed and good physicality we put them under pressure, so that’s what we’re looking to do against Leinster.”
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