IF anybody doubted how seriously Glasgow Warriors are taking today's match against Connacht, just look at the team.

In the past, the weekend immediately after the RBS Six Nations Championship has seen core Scotland players take a rest. Not this time.

Despite the distraction of their historic first European Champions Cup quarter-final next week, Gregor Townsend, the head coach, has wheeled out all bar one of the players who reported back from Scotland duty fully fit.

The exception is Jonny Gray; Townsend took one look at his battered frame and decided he did need a rest.

The reason, is simple. As Stuart Hogg put it, they have got themselves in a "sticky situation" in the Guinness PRO12 and need all the resources they can call on to have any hope of getting out of it – even then they are depending as much on both Ulster and the Scarlets shedding points as on those they pick up themselves.

Historically, no team has reached the play-offs on fewer than 63 points but no team has needed more than 67.

Glasgow are on 46 with 20 match points and another five bonus points still available. So their position is dire, but not hopeless.

Such was the enthusiasm of the national players to help engineer that miracle that Ryan Wilson even pitched up at training ready to play if needed, despite carrying a shoulder injury from last week's Scotland win over Italy.

It was, however, enough to make sure he misses out, as do Zander Fagerson and Tommy Seymour, who are also carrying niggles, though none are being seen as a risk for next week's European match at Saracens.

For the fans, it could also be the final chance to show their appreciation of Sean Lamont, the 36-year-old wing who has announced his retirement. Injuries mean he is back in the team but, with only two more home games after this, it is possible this might be his last in front of the Scotstoun faithful.

"He has added a huge amount to my game. He has looked after me incredibly well and I put a lot of my success down to the guidance of Sean," Hogg said in tribute.

"I'm sad to see him retire but it happens to us all at some point. What an outstanding career he has had.

"The second guy to hit 100 caps for Scotland – that is one heck of an achievement. For me he is not just an incredible rugby player but also an incredible person."

The magnitude of the game, however, does not mean that Townsend has given up on his rotations and experiments. Matt Smith, last season's Under-20s flanker, gets his first home game, even though the likes of club stalwart Chris Fusaro could have been available.

Testing young players is something Townsend has made a habit of throughout his time at Glasgow, possibly inspired by his experience of being part of the Borders when it closed 10 years ago and closed off one avenue of progress for ambitious youngsters.

Since then, he has been at pains to keep an eye on young talent, understandably with a bit of a bias towards the Borders where he still lives, with both his sons part of junior set-up at Melrose.

"No-one was more disappointed than me. I was playing for the team at the time," he recalled, looking ahead to Monday, the 10th anniversary of the closure announcement.

"I did think it would affect the chances of players from that area, but we are in a much better situation now in terms of the number of players playing in Scotland.

"There were more exiles in the Scotland set-up back then than there are now. The pro teams are much more competitive now.

"There was one season [2003/4] when Edinburgh, Borders and Glasgow were the bottom three teams in the league; that has not happened since.

"It [the Borders] didn’t work. I was disappointed that it didn’t work but it obviously wasn’t going to work. The financial model of a small town competing against clubs in the cities that we now compete against and the money that is coming into the game in England and France couldn’t work."

That said, things are far from perfect. While Townsend sees more and more children out playing mini rugby, he can also see that, by the time they get to adult rugby, the numbers have plunged.

"There is a society issue about why people are not playing at senior level, but that has nothing to do with the pro teams. That’s a society change," he said.

"When I was 18 or 19 Gala had six junior clubs. Hawick had about 10. Now there are just more things to do."

The flow into pro ranks has continued, however. Darcy Graham is the latest to come through from Under-20s to a full pro contract, Townsend says he is tracking Kyle Brunton, the Under-19 fly-half.

"Both are from Hawick where Hogg is showing week-in, week-out that the Borders talent factory is still going strong.

"I am proud to be a Hawick man, proud to be a Borderer," Hogg said. "It is something that drives me every day – doing it for people back home.

"People say nobody looks at the Borders. That's rubbish; everybody looks there. Some of the best talent in the Scotland team just now comes from the Borders. Greig [Laidlaw], Fordy [Ross Ford], myself. Darcy [Graham] getting his contract at Edinburgh, Fraser Renwick in the 20s. Hawick boys are doing well."

Glasgow Warriors S Hogg; S Lamont, N Grigg, P Horne (C), R Hughes; F Russell, A Price; A Allan, C Flynn, S Puafisi, T Swinson, B Alainu’uese, R Harley, M Smith, A Ashe. Replacements F Brown, G Reid, D Rae, S Cummings, L Wynne, G Horne, A Dunbar, P Murchie.

Connacht T O'Halloran; N Adeolokun, B Aki, C Ronaldson, S Ili; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, T McCartney, F Bealham, Q Roux, A Browne, S O'Brien, J Heenan, J Muldoon (C). Replacements D Heffernan, R Loughney, D Robertson-McCoy, J Cannon, N Dawai, J Cooney, T Farrell, J Rowland.

Referee I Davies (Wales)