BY the end of this month Glasgow Warriors could be firmly lodged in the top four of the PRO12 and in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup. Conversely, if they fail to get the required results against Cardiff in the league this Saturday then against Munster and Leicester over the following two weekends, they could be struggling to make the play-offs and also out of Europe.

Little wonder, then, that assistant coach Mike Blair believes those coming three games could define the team’s season. He knows each game will be extremely difficult - Cardiff have already beaten the Warriors in Wales, while Munster and Leicester are both former European champions - but he has been encouraged by recent results. If the run of three league defeats in late November and early December was a low point, the four victories which have followed - including back-to-back wins over French champions Racing 92 - have been even more of a high.

“It’s a big three weeks for us and in a way they define our season,” the former Scotland scrum-half said yesterday. “We certainly don’t want to drop off the top four in the PRO12.

“It’s a tough run of games for us but we’re at home to Cardiff, we’ve had a good record at home up until a few weeks ago. The crowd at home have really lifted us - the Racing game at home a couple of weeks ago was an incredible atmosphere and there are a few of us who hadn’t experienced anything like that at a club game before. But it’s a big game this week again and we’ve got a bunch of players who want to get out there and perform well.

“We’d had a couple of tough games at home,” Blair continued, referring to the losses that preceded those home-and-away wins over Racing. “I don’t know what it was about the Racing game - it was always going to be a really tough game for us, because winning over in Paris we were expecting a reaction from them.

“We’d heard that the Racing president, Jacky Lorenzetti, had been in the dressing room giving them an ultimatum and telling them their contracts were on the line if they didn’t perform. For us to put that kind of back-to-back performances together, the second in front of our home crowd in those circumstances after a couple of sticky games at home, was really big for the club.”

Racing were unable to match the Warriors’ high tempo on Scotstoun’s 3G pitch, but Blair knows that Cardiff will be up to speed as they play on an artificial surface themselves. “The surface is what they’re used to and they’re playing a good brand of rugby as well.

“We were on the end of a loss down there earlier in the season and they defended really well against us. They’ve had three opensides playing in their back row ,which is a real threat to us. I thought we dealt with them in the game down there, but we weren’t quite as clinical as we needed to be.

“But we believe there’s been some good signs the last few weeks that we can build on. We have an attack that’s capable of taking on their defence.”

While the Warriors do not want to look too far ahead at present, behind the scenes the squad for next season is steadily taking shape. Key players have already signed new contracts, while others such as Sila Puafisi are set to leave - in the tighthead prop’s case, by moving to Brive in the summer. Reports earlier this said week that Ryan Grant, the loosehead, was going to the same French club for the rest of the season on an emergency loan, but it is understood that as of last night there had been no contact between Brive and Glasgow.

Like his fellow-coach Kenny Murray, Blair has had preliminary discussions with Dave Rennie, who will succeed Gregor Townsend as head coach in the summer when the incumbent takes over Scotland. Blair’s contract is due to expire in the close season, but, while nothing is certain as yet, he is hopeful of remaining part of the set-up under Rennie.

“I’m led to believe he’s over in the next couple of months and we will nail things down,” Blair said of Rennie, whom he met briefly after the Warriors’ game in Cardiff earlier in the season. “It’s almost as frustrating a position for a coach as for a player.

“You’re just waiting for the pieces of the jigsaw to fall together. Dave will have his ideas and I’ll have to wait. My contract is up at the end of the season, so the discussions all go on around that.

“As an Edinburgh guy I was slightly apprehensive coming to Glasgow, but right from the start I’ve been made really welcome, first as a player and now as a coach. I’ve loved my time here at Glasgow - I’ve been really fortunate to come into a coaching team like Glasgow have got.

“That’s where we are at at the moment. I’m loving my time here and will find out what’s going on in the next couple of months.”