IT’S back to the Sportsground for Glasgow on Saturday, but that should not mean going back to the drawing board for Gregor Townsend.

The Warriors’ run of nine straight wins was brought to an abrupt halt by Connacht in last week’s final game of the regular season, forcing them to return to Galway for the PRO12 semi-final. The 14-7 loss was an undeniable blow to the morale of Townsend’s team, who had set their sights on securing a last-four tie back at Scotstoun. But they can take solace from the fact that there was not much in the match - and from the knowledge that they can play significantly better in certain aspects of the game.

“I thought we played some really good rugby in the conditions and executed some very good pieces of play, which I didn’t think was possible in the heavy rain,” Townsend said. “We made 44 tackle breaks and made over 600 metres, but what we didn’t do was finish off those opportunities, especially in the first half when we started well.

“Second half there was a different context to the game given that we were down to 14 men. We handled that pretty well and we were in a position at the end to maybe grab a draw, but Connacht deserved the win because they took their chances and they defended well when we had our opportunities.”

The hearing into Sila Puafisi’s sending-off is expected to be heard tomorrow, so the prop could be available for the return. So too could Alex Dunbar, who had to go off injured eight days ago, and Henry Pyrgos, whose neck injury is improving.

But no matter who is in the matchday squad, whether they were involved in the last game or not, Townsend expects them to have learned from the team’s shortcomings in the last match. The head coach never slates his players in public, and at a press conference at BT Murrayfield last week he accentuated the positive, insisting that mistakes and indiscipline were learning opportunities. Nonetheless, by the time kick-off comes around he will have spent considerable time reminding his players of the need for self-control.

“Whether you give away a penalty or miss a tackle or miss a kick at goal, these things happen. I made a few mistakes myself this week in training as a coach, and you have to learn from them.

“The great thing about this game is that we get to put that learning into practice. We’re playing the same opposition at the same ground, and I’m sure guys in the same position this week will have learned.

“They know it will be noisy. Decisions may go against us. There might be aggressive parts of the game that we have to handle as a club and make sure that we’re focused on our task, which is winning the game.

“It can get noisier, but not much than last week. It’s a different atmosphere than you get at any other ground in the PRO12 and probably in Europe.

“The Sportsground is slightly different. As coaches we’re in the middle of it, so we sometimes can’t hear the messages that are being passed, but I love it. I love the noise, and our players now know what environment they’re going back into, hopefully with a number of our supporters too.

“It’s a different set-up. You have a terrace, one side is set far back, and then you have people really close. The crowd as well are really passionate about their team, very similar to Scotstoun people.

“People don’t like playing at Scotstoun because of the atmosphere, and over there they’ll cheer for every decision. They’ll be behind their team with full passion, which is great to see, and that environment means you have to play really well to win.”

The players may be told constantly about the importance of self-discipline, but there is one thing about which they will need no reminder in the build-up to the game: the fact that, after five years and ten matches, no away team has yet won a semi-final. Again, however, Townsend will aim to turn that into a positive. This is your chance to make history, he will tell his players. You came close to beating Connacht here last week: do it this time round and you will be the first to win on the road at this stage of the competition.

“They know about the stat, obviously, and we were treating last week’s game as a quarter-final,” he added. “We were so desperate to get a home semi-final. We know have a second chance and we learned a lot. We have to be ten or 20 per cent better in all aspects - our skill execution, our emotional control, our tactical awareness, which we must put right.

“If it’s heavy wind or rain, then we have to deal with that, but that’s a separate area. If it’s dry it will be a different game from the one we saw at the weekend. There will be a lot more attacking from Connacht and from us.”

One advantage which Glasgow could take from having lost last weekend is the fact that there is a full fortnight between the two matches. The momentum they built up over that long winning run may have been halted last week, but by the same token the gap between games should help dissipate Connacht’s confidence.

“Yes, it does,” Townsend said when asked if the two-week hiatus helped. “And certainly, playing the same opponents helps us as coaches. If we were playing Leinster or Ulster six or seven days later it would be a busier week for a coach, but now we’re watching [the last] game and speaking to players about things that we didn’t pick up as coaches, and it’s a bonus.”