GLASGOW Warriors have played some exceptional rugby in recent weeks, but they can and must get even better in the weeks to come, according to Fraser Brown. The hooker believes that, no matter how inspired the PRO12 champions have been in parts of matches, they have yet to turn in the kind of complete display of which they are capable.

“I still think we haven't really put together an 80-minute performance,” Brown said. “I know we played well down at Scarlets [when they won 46-10 last month], but there are a lot of things we can improve on from that game. You never play the perfect game of rugby, so that's something we are still striving to do.

“Specifically, there have been times in our attack when we’ve lost easy balls. Or we have a five-minute lapse in defence and it gives the opposition easy inroads. Those are things we have to tighten up and try to improve, especially this weekend and hopefully for the next couple of weekends.”

Such lapses were evident against Zebre a week ago at Scotstoun, when a few poor patches of play from the home team allowed the Italians to score two tries. True, Zebre were soon subdued, and Glasgow ended up winning 70-10, but Brown and his team-mates know that similar lapses at Connacht in tomorrow’s final league game of the regular season could prove far more costly.

Having said that, far more has gone right with the Warriors in recent months than has gone wrong, of course, as once more the squad appear to be reaching peak fitness at precisely the right time. “When the guys came back [from the Six Nations] you could see that everything was ramped up in training, and then the week in Italy was perfectly timed almost as a squad bonding experience. There is just a really good feeling amongst the guys in training.”

The Warriors have already qualified for the play-offs, and a win or a draw will give them a home semi-final in a fortnight. But if they lose they are likely to come third, below both Connacht and Leinster, who have a home game against Benetton Treviso - and that would mean an away tie in the last four. No PRO12 team has ever won on the road at the semi-final stage of the competition, which explains why the squad are treating this match as more like a knockout than just another league game.

“The mindset is obviously slightly different this week,” Brown added. “It's almost more like a quarter-final for us, because we’re hoping we can come back here and have a home semi-final.”

Brown expects Connacht to have a similar kind of game plan to his own team’s - one which should produce a high-tempo, expansive contest. “They like to play with the ball. I think they’re the only team in the league that keep the ball in hand more than we do. They have a very strong set piece, a very strong scrum. They just want to play rugby.

“I don't know what the conditions will be like weather-wise. It's going to be a fast, free-flowing game, no matter whether it's raining, dry or windy.

“In the last couple of weeks we've played teams who like to keep the ball tight. I don't think we'll see that this week, with Bundee Aki and Robbie Henshaw in the centre. They can be very direct at times, but they also like to put a bit of width on the ball. They’re a very good team across the park and they’re going to test us defensively.”

Earlier this week, scrum-half Mike Blair declared that retaining the title will be more difficult than winning it last year was, and Brown agreed. He has seen opponents raise their game against the Warriors in a way they did not last season, and is also sure that the squad expect more of themselves this time round.

“Other teams respect you a bit more so they adapt their tactics, which they might not have done before. Definitely there are new challenges.

“With teams you come up against you’ve got targets on your backs. They either want to beat you because you’re the champions, or they want to make sure you don't get there again, especially at this end of the season.

“There's more pressure put on by ourselves as well. Last year was a brilliant year, but we have to raise and lift our standards again. But we don't really think back what we did last year because we've got a new goal and that hopefully to get the final in three weeks’ time.”

The team to play Connacht will be announced today, before the squad set off for the west of Ireland. All the key players who were rested against Zebre last week are expected to be included.