SECOND chances rarely come round so quickly. Eight days after losing narrowly to Munster in the Champions Cup, Glasgow Warriors can render that result all but irrelevant by beating Leicester Tigers today and claiming a place in the last eight of the competition for the first time.
Had they beaten Munster at Scotstoun, the Warriors would now be in with a shout of earning a home quarter-final as one of the four best pool-winners. As it is, any sort of win - with or without a bonus point - will still be enough to take Gregor Townsend’s team through as one of the three best runners-up from the five pools.
Leicester, who were beaten by Glasgow in the first match of the group stages, are out of the running after losing to Racing 92 last week and can finish no better than third. Nonetheless, Townsend warned that the Tigers - who like Munster have twice been European champions - will be no pushovers, especially on their own ground.
“They will definitely want to play their best at home - they have a great home record,” he said. “They have fresh memories of losing to us and will want a better performance.
“They would not be happy with aspects of that game, or the Racing game last week. They’re very dangerous and they’ll try things as they have nothing at stake.
“It will be tough. They’re a very good team, but we have prepared well this week with a lot of energy in our sessions. We need to play with the intensity we had against Munster, but take our opportunities close to the try line.
“They have quality players, a really strong set-piece, dangerous runners in the backfield. It looks like they’re trying to move the ball more - more off-the-top lineouts rather than driving.
“Players are dropping back for counter-attack. There is an emphasis on them getting the ball and playing.”
That willingness to have an open, attacking game should play into Glasgow’s hands compared to Munster’s preference for a slow, forward-oriented match. And, while Townsend expects a tough contest, he is sure his team will be highly motivated by the knowledge that victory will take them into the last eight for the first time.
“It’s a much better situation to be in than in the past few years. We’ve been involved in the last round before, but needed a lot of results to go our way. We know now that if we win we’ll go through, and that’s exciting.”
As the Warriors have a second chance, it is appropriate that Townsend has given his team the opportunity to atone for their mistakes last week by naming the same starting line-up. The only changes on the bench see lock Brian Alainu’uese return from suspension in place of Matt Fagerson, and joint captain Henry Pyrgos come back from injury instead of Grayson Hart.
“The whole team played well for a lot of the game last week, so getting another chance to play is good,” Townsend added. “Henry didn’t train in every session [this week] and didn’t train last week. It was certainly a conversation among coaches whether to start Henry, but to have him in the squad is a massive boost. He can’t wait to play.”
Pool winners Munster, meanwhile, are at home to Racing tonight and could book a home quarter-final if they win. In the wake of their match against the Warriors, Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray claimed that his standing leg had been targeted by tacklers when he kicked, saying that he did not blame the Glasgow players. Murray’s complaint was thus clearly directed at the Warriors coaching staff, and yesterday Townsend offered a strong and reasoned defence.
“It depends what he is insinuating,” he said. “If he means tackling and putting kicks under pressure then, yes, of course, that’s what we do every week against any team we play against. Munster kick the ball more than other teams. It was a big part of what we wanted to do.
“Mostly I think we did it well. There was maybe one where we got our timing off. There were no issues with the referee on any of them, even those that went to the replay.
“There are perhaps a couple of things here. Maybe the fact he got his kick charged down in the last few minutes of the game - that could have led to a try or drop goal for us to win. And there was the story that came out of the game about how they handle concussions; perhaps that’s why we’re hearing a lot about kick pressure this week.
“There is no rule that says you can’t tackle someone when they’re about to kick the ball. We want to force poor kicks and charge-downs, and we did get that at the end of the game.”
Glasgow Warriors (against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, today, 5.30pm, live on BT Sport): S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, A Dunbar, L Jones; F Russell, A Price; G Reid, F Brown, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, J Gray, R Harley, R Wilson, J Strauss. Substitutes: P MacArthur, A Allan, D Rae, B Alainu'uese, C Fusaro, H Pyrgos, N Grigg, P Murchie.
Leicester Tigers: M Tait; A Thompstone, P Betham, J Roberts, T Brady; F Burns, B Youngs; G Bateman, T Youngs, D Cole, E Slater, M Fitzgerald, M Williams, L McCaffrey, L Hamilton. Substitutes: H Thacker, E Genge, P Cilliers, D Barrow, W Evans, S Harrison, O Williams, M Smith.
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