THERE can be few tougher tasks in rugby than travelling to Paris to take on one of the biggest-spending clubs in the richest league in the world, but talk to the Glasgow Warriors players and you get the feeling that they are heading to Racing 92 in expectation more than hope.

There is no illusion around the team about the scale of the task, but with Gregor Townsend, the head coach, keeping changes from last week down to no more than tinkering, there is an air of expectation: "There were seasons when if it was a tight game, we would come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard, now we are a lot better at finding a way to win," said Peter Horne, the centre back from Scotland duty.

"We have experience of the final last year, the semi the year before that. The boys have been through it together. We know what it takes to win games and it is about building on last year. We just need to put in an 80-minute performance."

Townsend has restricted his usual urge to make wholesale changes and kept the core of the team that won a scrappy game in Cardiff last week. Behind the scrum experience has won the day with Mike Blair starting at scrum half and Sean Lamont on the wing with Grayson Hart and Taqele Naiyaravoro dropping to the bench.

Up front the only change to the front five sees Ryan Grant starting, swapping places with Gordon Reid, while there is a more robust back row with Josh Strauss moving to No8 and being joined by Rob Harley and Simone Favaro.

"We'll see how it goes for the first 20 minutes," said Townsend. "I would imagine the French view is that they will look to take on Glasgow in the set piece, but they have players in the back line who want to play, guys who want to run rather than kick. We can expect two games, which is the kind of test we want. They are expecting dry weather, which should mean an open game. It is a great starter for us to play away against the team with the biggest budget in our pool. It will give us a good indication of where we are.

"We know that Racing have strengths throughout the team, but this is one of the biggest packs we will face this season. They are full of internationals. We've got to get our defensive game in place first of all, then we have to make sure we get to a lot of rucks and clear them quickly to move them around. If we let them dictate the pace of the game then they will get the upper hand.

Racing are not as strong as they will be. Dan Carter, rumoured to be on a wage of a million euros a season, has yet to pitch up after the World Cup while Juan Imhoff, the Argentine wing is still out of action, but they still field a starting side with 12 Test players, many of them, like the Scots, making their way back to club action after the World Cup.

"They have not played their number one team yet," said Townsend. "Likewise for us - we have integrated players, but this will be the first time this team has played together this year. Winning the first game, or certainly picking up something from it, gives you huge momentum and confidence. It means the team you are playing is under pressure too, which has a bearing later on.

"The Champions Cup will be different this year. Normally there is a bigger gap between the first and second blocks of games so momentum is not such an issue. This time, we only have two games between the second and third rounds and then we are back in Europe, playing Scarlets home and away."

Racing 92: J Goosen; J Rokocoko, H Chavancy, A Dumoulin, M Andreu; R Tales, M Machenaud (C); E Ben Arous, C Chat, B Tameifuna, L Charteris, F van der Merwe, W Lauret, B Le Roux, C Masoe. Replacements: D Szarzewski, J Brugnaut, C Gomes Sa, T Dubarry, Y Nyanga, X Chauveau, B Dambielle, C Laulala.

Glasgow Warriors: S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, P Horne, S Lamont; F Russell, M Blair; R Grant, P MacArthur, S Puafisi, L Nakarawa, J Gray (C), R Harley, S Favaro, J Strauss Replacements: S Mamukashvili, G Reid, Z Fagerson, T Swinson, R Wilson, G Hart, R Vernon, T Naiyaravoro.

Referee: JP Doyle (England)