AL KELLOCK has warned Ulster that Glasgow are determined to take the game to them in tonight's RaboDirect PRO12 opener at Ravenhill.

In the corresponding fixture last season Warriors went down 28-14 with a Troy Nathan try and three Duncan Weir penalties proving not enough on the night.

Having been rested for both of Glasgow's two freindlies with Sale and Exeter, captain Kellock is champing at the bit to get stuck into the Ulster men and get Glasgow's campaign off to a winning start.

Kellock's second row partnership with Tom Ryder will be pivotal to Glasgow's ability to take care of their own ball at the line-out and of course disrupt the stream of Ulster ball and the Warriors skipper has no doubt about where the contest will be won or lost.

He said: "There is no point playing down the importance of this game. If you look back to last season then we went to Ravenhill and lost out and the knock-on from that was that we lost three of our opening four games.

"Ulster are particu-larly aggressive up front and with guys like John Afoa, the former All Black and Tom Court in the pack we know it is going to be brutal. But when you go to places like Ravenhill it is vital that you don't take a step back.

"It is crucial we allow our backs to play on the front foot and with Rob Harley and Chris Fusaro flanking we have the type of energy and athle-ticism that will allow us to win the quick ball that can help them thrive.

"To do that we must get on top of them up front. But this is the game we have trained so hard for and it is up to us to bring it all to bear."

While the departure of Richie Gray is something new head coach Gregor Townsend could have done without, Kellock has no doubt that Tom Ryder has the ability to fill the void.

Big Al added: "Tom is now a full Scotland international and he had plenty of game time last time and never let Glasgow down. Sure we were sorry to see Richie go but I have absolute confidence in the squad we have assembled.

"You look at the bench we have tonight with the likes of Chris Cusiter and Ryan Grant on it and this is a Glasgow squad that is undoubtedly the strongest in my seven years here."