Justin Va’a, the Samoa prop, has vowed to keep Glasgow winning to help to make up for his World Cup heartbreak, not only being forced out of the competition after playing only an hour but then having to watch inactive as his team flopped. After tearing a calf muscle in the tournament’s opening game, he makes his come-back against Ulster tonight, and is likely to play again in a back-up game at Leeds on Monday to make sure he is in perfect shape for the Heineken Cup opener the following Sunday.

“It was difficult to put myself through so much pain and hard work only for it to end the way it did,” he said yesterday. “There is not much you can do, injuries are part of rugby. You just have to get over it and work hard on getting back. Coming back here I am excited at the squad and the calibre of player we have signed to add to the boys from last season.

“Once we have gelled and got everything right on the field we will be a force not just in the Magners League but in Europe as well. The match against Ulster is a good test, my first game in eight weeks and I need to prove my worth to the side because there is such competition to get into the side, which is good for any team.”

Va’a is an integral part of Glasgow’s planning for the rest of the season, adding strength, bulk and a ball-carrying capacity to the side. With Dougie Hall, the Scotland hooker, and Kevin Tkachuk, the Canadian prop, both close to strengthening the unit still further when they return to action after their injuries, Glasgow have every right to feel confident, Sean Lineen, the coach, said.

“Ideally, with so many players coming back from the World Cup, I would have liked one more game before heading into Europe but that can’t happen, we have to work with what we have,” Lineen said. “I’ve been really impressed by the team and the way they have taken the bull by the horns and worked hard to gel as quickly as they can.”

All of which raises the encounter tonight above the level of just another league game because if Glasgow are going to achieve anything in the Heineken Cup, they will have to open with a win in their first match, a tricky encounter against Saracens. On the evidence of last week, the key task for the players is to find the teamwork and understanding that allows them to turn their openings and breaks into tries.

Not that it will be easy against Ulster who may sit at the bottom of the Magners League but have the players who should be challenging for the title, including Rob Dewey, of Scotland, who will line up at centre against Andy Henderson, his rival for the place in the national side.

“Andy [Henderson] did some great things last week, but also some distinctly average things,” Lineen said. “I had a chat with him, he is focused and keen. There is more to come, it is exciting what he can do, he can make some great line breaks but he looked rusty after not playing much in the World Cup. This is an experienced back line, I’m expecting great things from them.

“The common theme through all our games has been the number of chances we are creating but not taking. It is a good thing in a way – I would be more worried if we were not creating chances – but the fact that we are not converting them into points is frustrating. Sometimes it is individual errors, sometimes people making poor decisions. It will be fixed the more we play together but I am impatient, I want to get there quickly.”

Ulster are arriving in Glasgow on the back of a dismal start to the season but have restored David Humphreys at fly half after his performance as a replacement last week helped the side to come from behind to draw against Leinster.

Glasgow: B Stortoni; L Fa’atau, A Henderson, D Gibson, T Evans; D Parks, C O’Young; J Va’a, F Thomson, M Low, A Newman, A Kellock (capt), K Brown, J Barclay, J Beattie.
Replacements: E Milligan, E Kalman, D Turner, J Eddie, S Pinder, S Barrow, H O’Hare.