When Glasgow Warriors became the first Scottish rugby side to win a major trophy, Al Kellock was right at the forefront on the pitch.
The Scotland international’s final act with the club he represented on more than 150 occasions was to lift the Pro12 trophy in Belfast little over nine years ago.
Now he’s at the forefront of the club’s off-field efforts in his role as managing director, but nonetheless is looking forward to watching his team at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Speaking exclusively to Scotland Rugby News from Glasgow’s base in Johannesburg earlier this week, Kellock acknowledged the URC final against the Bulls is another chance to create history.
He said: “We’re in the final two of an incredibly strong league and that should already mean a huge amount.
“Even reflecting on the semi-finals, when you look at the teams that were in those, that’s who we want to be up there with.
"To win that semi-final away from home against the defending champions was a big statement in terms of our ambition and what we want to do moving forward.
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“We have to use this as a really significant positive and build the momentum on it. To win the title would be just rewards for the effort that has gone in, but both teams are in the same place.
“What it would mean for the club, and the people involved - when I say that I mean every supporter who has bought a ticket, every kid who runs about in a Glasgow shirt at whatever club that we represent - it would be incredibly special."
For Kellock, head coach Franco Smith and team manager John Manson, it has been a hectic week since the semi-final triumph.
Moving nearly 50 players and staff – never mind all the equipment needed for a professional rugby team – the 8,500 miles between Scotstoun and Pretoria is no mean feat.
“We arrived back into Glasgow at 1.15am last Sunday morning and Franco, John Manson and I were on a call as we drove home,” Kellock said.
However, the Glasgow managing director added: “There have been some logistics we’ve had to get over, but they’re all logistics you would want to have."
The squad moved from Johannesburg to Pretoria earlier today (Friday) as they prepare for a second major final in two years under head coach Franco Smith.
The South African has transformed the Warriors since taking over from Danny Wilson, whose tenure came to an abrupt end following the 76-14 humiliation at the hands of Leinster in a URC quarter-final two seasons ago.
Kellock sung the praises of the former Italy boss, while adding there have been no discussions about Smith moving on, either to succeed Gregor Townsend or to become Scottish Rugby’s new performance director.
“Franco has done an incredible job,” Kellock said.
“I can’t say enough about how much I enjoy working with him. As a club we are very aligned. Every single person knows where we want to go. You see it with the players for 80 minutes but the best thing for me, and the thing that gives me the most pride, is that goes right through the club.”
The popularity of the Warriors was given a huge boost by their 2015 title win, and Kellock knows a similar off-field opportunity awaits if the players can get their hands on the URC trophy.
He revealed increasing the capacity of their Scotstoun home would be just one of the club’s plans.
Kellock continued: “We work really hard with the city council around Scotstoun and I’m really pleased with the incremental changes we’ve made to the set-up over the last couple of years.
“We need to keep making it better. We would love to have the ability to increase the capacity – I won’t put a number on that because I’m not sure what the right number is, but it needs to be more than we’ve got. We want to grow and grow.
“I talk a lot about cultural relevance. We had Taylor Swift on quarter-final weekend, Scotland are over at the Euros so there’s a lot of eyes on other things. I want to increase our cultural relevance and I want people to notice what we’re doing.
“That we’re bringing phenomenal opposition to Scotstoun and we’re competing with, or beating, those teams.
“There is nothing like winning to grab people’s attention."
While it would be easy for the ex-captain's mind to wander back to that famous day in Belfast as Paul O’Connell and Munster were sent packing, Kellock said it had not crossed his mind during the build-up to the latest Glasgow Warriors final.
“What has been in my mind is this year and this team,” he said.
“It was phenomenal, but it is time that we added to that and we’ve earned the right to have the opportunity to do something special again this weekend.”
One of Kellock’s first acts as managing director was to remove a giant picture of himself lifting the trophy in Belfast. He hopes that come Monday morning, there are new mementos to add to the Scotstoun walls.
“When I first went into my office there was a big picture on the wall, and it was of me, so it was taken down pretty quickly.
“We should not forget that journey we went on, when we lost the year before.
"The opportunity for Kyle [Steyn] and the group is right in front of them. The task for them is to grab it.”
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