WHEN the fixture list for the RaboDirect PRO12 season was announced the game that immediately stood out for me was tomorrow's visit of Leinster to Scotstoun.

Having won the Heineken Cup in each of the last two seasons the Dublin side are, without doubt, the benchmark team in Northern Hemisphere rugby right now.

But we go into this game on the back of a new club record of six consecutive victories in league action and we will also have a noisy and passionate Glasgow support urging us on from the Scotstoun stands.

I am relishing the opportunity for us to show what we can do against Joe Schmidt's men and to pitting my wits against him.

We have been boosted by the return from injury of a number of key players. DTH van der Merwe, Moray Low and Pat MacArthur are all ready to play their part, while the return from Scotland duty of Ruaridh Jackson, Alex Dunbar and Tom Ryder is another huge plus for us.

Looking back over the first section of the season I am relatively pleased with where we are and how we have performed.

Certainly the bonus point demolition of the Dragons in the final game before the international break was a performance that has provided us with the standard we must live up to.

What that victory proved to me is that we are evolving nicely as a team and that experiences like the one at Northampton in the Heineken Cup – where we outplayed the then form team in England for 30 minutes but maybe did not have the self-belief to close the deal – are ones that we have learned huge amounts from.

THE challenge that awaits us tomorrow is to bring all of that to bear against Leinster.

On so many fronts they pose you so many problems but without doubt it is at the breakdown that we will have to match their ferocity with every ounce of determination and passion we possess.

Of course, they do the basics right and at the set-piece they are very strong, but if we can take them on where they normally reign supreme I think it will possibly undermine other aspects of their game that could pay off for us.

But we are under no illusions as to how tough it will be to get the win we are desperate for in tomorrow's 7.35pm kick-off.

While Glasgow have drawn one and lost three of the last four games against Leinster, we beat them at the Royal Dublin Showgrounds in the corresponding fixture last season. With the exception of the first Heineken Cup tie in Dublin the other games were all very tight.

If we can get every Warriors fan into a seat at Scotstoun then I see no reason why we can't do this together.