THE road from the first match in this season’s European Champions Cup to the final some seven months from now is short and straightforward: from Scotstoun, where Glasgow Warriors have been given the honour of opening the tournament tonight against Leicester Tigers, to BT Murrayfield, where the competition will culminate on 13 May. Yet no matter how simple such a journey may be geographically, the Warriors know that, in sporting terms, they will have to scale any number of peaks along the way if they are to make it to the national stadium.
Gregor Townsend, for whom this is a last crack at elusive European success with the Warriors before he moves on to Scotland duties, admitted as much yesterday when assessing the scale of the task facing his team this evening. He referred to the outstanding 41-5 victory against Connacht with which Glasgow began the PRO12 season - then insisted that his players would have to improve on that if they are to get the better of the twice former champions.
And that, of course, is only the first match. Next week brings a visit to Munster, who have themselves been crowned kings of Europe before. Then, just before Christmas, comes the visit to Paris for the match against the other team in Pool One - Racing 92, last year’s runners-up whose bulging budget has enabled them to attract world-class talent such as Dan Carter to their squad.
In short, even coming close to getting out of the pool and into the quarter-finals would represent a significant enough achievement. Doing any better would entail the Warriors performing at a higher than usual level of excellence not just tonight, but in virtually every match in the competition.
“The Connacht game was probably ahead of expectations, to play that well in the first game of the season,” Townsend said when asked to assess the preparedness of his squad for this higher level of competition. “After that we’ve probably not had the same team out, but now we’re closer to getting the players back from injury that were in real form earlier in the season. But we need that Connacht-plus performance to beat Leicester.
“Every group is tough,” he continued. “There are 20 teams in Europe, not 24 as there used to be, so you’re going to have to play your best in the six games. You can maybe afford to drop one, but if you drop two, you’re really up against it.
“We might play our best and not win in some of these games - that’s the reality. But as long as we give everything in those six games, let’s see where we finish up.”
The five pool winners and the three best runners-up go through to the last eight, but in a pool as strong as this one, the danger is that all the teams will end up cutting each other’s throat, meaning only the winners go through. At least the Warriors go into the Leicester match with some key players back in their line-up, notably at second row, where Tim Swinson has been passed fit and Jonny Gray returns after being rested last week. Alex Dunbar has also been given the go-ahead and will partner Sam Johnson in the centre, but Tommy Seymour, arguably the team’s form player of the season so far, has missed out because of a back injury and may also be sidelined next week.
Australian international Matt Toomua, who can also play at stand-off, will make his debut for Leicester at inside centre. Townsend believes that the 26-year-old, an unused substitute for the Wallabies in last year’s controversial Rugby World Cup quarter-final victory over Scotland, will give the Tigers greater versatility in attack.
“It was a signing to really help with their attack shape,” the Warriors coach added. “The team that has evolved over the last couple of years, to get someone who has played test-level rugby at 10 and at centre will allow you to play that little bit wider.
“He’s one of my favourite players: he’s aggressive in defence, he can play 10 or 12, and can make things happen around him. He can also move the ball.
“He’s not played for a few weeks - he’s obviously not played for Leicester - so we’ll have to make sure that we put not just him but all that Leicester team under pressure so that they don't get a chance to play the way they want to play. They’ve got a complete game. They can go set piece and round the corner or they can now move the ball wide. We’ll see how they come at us.”
Glasgow Warriors (v Leicester Tigers at Scotstoun tonight, 7.45pm, live on BT Sport 2): S Hogg; L Sarto, A Dunbar, S Johnson, R Hughes; F Russell, H Pyrgos; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, J Strauss. Substitutes: P MacArthur, A Allan, S Puafisi, M Fagerson, L Wynne, A Price, M Bennett, S Lamont.
Leicester: T Veainu; A Thompstone, M Tait, M Toomua, T Brady; O Williams, B Youngs; E Genge, T Youngs, D Cole, D Barrow, G Kitchener, M Fitzgerald, B O'Connor, L McCaffrey. Substitutes: H Thacker, L Mulipola, G Bateman, E Slater, W Evans, S Harrison, F Burns, P Betham.
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