Lineen faces his Euro nemesis
Glasgow coach eyes up Saracens
Glasgow Warriors and Saracens have a bit of European Challenge Cup history going on, and Warriors coach Sean Lineen is keen to start making amends for their near miss three years ago when Saracens edged them out of the knock-out stages.
The two clash again at Vicarage Road on Sunday afternoon with their head-to-head meetings at 1-1 but Saracens marginally ahead on points.
"We played Saracens in the 2003/4 European Challenge Cup and, while we lost 37-6 at their place, we beat them 33-5 in Glasgow," said Lineen
"We were only denied going through to the quarter-finals because they had that +3 better points difference over the two legs, which was very disappointing."
That kind of gap between home and away form, normally associated more with the French teams, has struck at Glasgow again this season, as Lineen admits.
"This season we started off really well in the Magners League match against Newport Gwent Dragons but then the wheels came off and, although since then we have won all our home games, we have struggled on the road and that has hit our confidence a bit," he said.
"However, Sunday provides us with a great opportunity to challenge a top English club and we are really looking forward to going to Vicarage Road. We have seen a number of their games and they have class players right through the side.
The form of the teams going into the match shows that Saracens, at home, will be red-hot favourites, after they ran a half-century of points past Bath on Sunday.
Glasgow were struggling at the other end of the action, going down with a whimper at the Ospreys.
"Saracens are playing with a lot of confidence and in Glen Jackson they have an outstanding fly-half," said Lineen about bridging that gap.
"They also have tremendous speed out wide and are certainly playing a high tempo game – coach Alan Gaffney is getting a lot out of them right now and their big win over Bath Rugby at the weekend was impressive.
"But we have quality players of our own at Glasgow and wing Thom Evans, who joined us from Wasps in the summer, is a 21-year-old with fantastic potential.
"Our forwards are fronting up nicely and Alastair Kellock, the Scotland lock, is leading from the front."
