Gregor Townsend insists Glasgow will go for the jugular against Leicester Tigers no matter what happens elsewhere with their Champions Cup rivals.

Warriors are hoping to secure a quarter-final berth for the first time in the club's history when they travel south to Welford Road on Saturday.

Victory over Aaron Mauger's side will guarantee their place in the last eight as one of the three best group runners up.

But they could also sneak into the knock-out phase if other results go their way.

And with those matches all due to take place before Townsend's team run out in the midlands, Glasgow will at least have the benefit of knowing exactly what is required of them when they take on the two-time former European champions.

However, the head coach insists he will take nothing for granted.

Townsend said: "We will know the permutations before we play.

"But we aim to go there and get a win. We know that will get us into the last eight and that is all we have prepared for.

"Our aim is to deliver a performance that means we can get what will be a really important win for the club.

"We've never won down there and we're expecting a reaction from Leicester's defeat to Racing last week and their defeat here earlier in the campaign.

"They've shown they can perform really well. They are the only team to have beaten Munster over the last three months.

"They are absolutely not going to do us any favours. I wouldn't expect that. They have a proud home record and will be playing in front of a big crowd.

"They've got England and Australia internationals in their line-up so it will be tough.

"But I can sense a real excitement in our players. There was an edge, an accuracy and a real energy about our training this week. It's probably the best we've trained all season. Let's hope that transfers into our best performance as we'll need to play well to win."

Glasgow passed up the chance to book qualification from Pool One last week when they went down narrowly to group winners Munster.

The Glasgow boss will give the same 15 men who started the 14-12 defeat to the Limerick side the chance to redeem themselves against Tigers.

Townsend has leapt to the defence of his players after Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray accused Warriors of deliberately trying to injure him during the Scotstoun clash.

And with Munster facing an investigation after failing to follow concussion guidelines following an incident where Murray appeared to lose consciousness, Townsend suggested their Guinness PRO12 rivals were using the fresh row as a distraction tactic.

He said: "Conor Murray is an excellent player, one of the best nines in the game. Maybe he didn't have the best game last week but we put pressure on every player we come against.

"We know Munster have a very strong kicking game and we put pressure on that. Sometime we didn't get it right.

"Rugby is a physical game but you have to do things within the laws. That involves tackling and we were not penalised for anything last week.

"I've heard a few comments out of Munster this week so clearly the pressure we put on them last week, they did not enjoy.

"There was one occasion where we did not get the timing right but all the other occasions we applied legitimate pressure. The referee was there and saw a couple of replays and said it was fine.

"Maybe they have an issue. I know they were getting investigated about the concussion that week so perhaps they want to talk about this and not the other incident."