We can win on the day, says Horne as Glasgow prepare for cup battle
GLASGOW will be second favourites by a long way when they take on Saracens on Sunday in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup.
The London club is English and European champions, it has home advantage, and its squad also includes several key members of the England side that has just won the Six Nations.
For Peter Horne, however, those facts, impressive though they may be, are overshadowed by the knowledge of how well his own team can play on their day. And the Warriors back, who began Saturday’s 35-24 PRO12 win at centre before taking over at stand-off from Finn Russell, is encouraged by memories of his side being written off before matches that they have gone on to win.
“We’ve had that for years, but it doesn’t really matter,” Horne said after the game at Scotstoun. “In our dressing room we believe we’ve got the firepower to beat anyone. So we’ll be going down there with the bit between our teeth looking to turn them over.
“We’re in a great place. It’s great to have the Scotland boys back – they’ve come back full of beans and really lifted training last week. It was great to see them all out having fun.
“It’s a massive week. We’re not celebrating being in that quarter-final. We’re in this competition to win it, and we need to make sure we turn up and put in a good performance.”
It will almost certainly have to be a more complete performance than the one that in the end was enough to see off Connacht. The PRO12 champions failed to make the most of their first-half domination and, against more ruthless opponents, Glasgow could have been punished more severely.
“First half we maybe approached the breakdown wrong, but we spoke under the posts and sorted it,” Horne said. “We started leaving the ruck, and we got a lot more success getting good width and good line speed.
“Ultimately we put in a good, polished second half. We looked after the ball and I felt that our fitness prevailed. It showed at the end when we were able to run in a couple of tries.
“Job done. We got a five-pointer at the end of the day against a good side.”
After being out through injury, Horne is again match fit and getting back to his best form, but whether he will start against Saracens remains to be seen.
“When I got injured I said my goal was to try to get back involved for this quarter-final,” he added. “Every day of my rehab it was in the back of my mind.
“That’s me had four games in a row now – four 80 minutes for the first time since last season. I’m feeling better. Every week I’m improving. I’ll be looking to work my nuts off this week and put my hand up for selection again.”