LAST year can be put down to experience.

Last week showed how much this Glasgow team have grown. Tonight, at last, they can become the first Scottish team to win a European trophy.

The Warriors came off second best by some margin in the 2014 final, going down 34-12 to Leinster, who were the defending champions and always retained the firmest of grips on their crown. But there is a far more seasoned feel to Gregor Townsend's team now, as they showed eight days ago in the semi-final against Ulster, when they might have been dead and buried at half-time yet somehow contrived to snatch a 16-14 victory.

Still, although the ability to win while not playing well is a useful knack to acquire, it is not a character trait that Glasgow will expect to get them out of any scrape. On another evening at Scotstoun, against other opponents, they would not have had the chance to stage a fightback. This evening in Belfast against Munster, they know they cannot rely on any unwitting charity.

The thing is, no matter how much the Warriors may have gleaned from their sampling of the big occasion 12 months ago, the Irish province have far more experience of such crunch matches. They served an arduous apprenticeship in the Heineken Cup, losing the final to Northampton as long ago as 2000, then coming off second best again to Leicester two seasons later. They beat Biarritz in 2006 to make it third time lucky, and reclaimed the continent's premiere prize two years later with a win over Toulouse.

They also have three PRO12 titles to their name, from 2003, 2009 and 2011. Never mind that the playing squad has nothing in common with the ones that took the earlier trophies: the point is that Munster as an institution is steeped in success.

The loss to injury of Conor Murray, the scrum-half, and Peter O'Mahony, the captain and lock, is a significant double blow to Munster. But Gregor Townsend, Glasgow's head coach, still expects them to be formidable foes.

"They've got a game plan that's based on winning the gain line," he said yesterday. "Now a lot of teams do have that, but they go about it in the most direct and uncompromising way. It's getting their big forwards over the gain line. They've got a really strong ball-carrier in Denis Hurley at 12.

"They have gone back to the traditional way Munster played of two or three years ago - whereas two seasons before they'd gone more wide to wide - and it's been effective for them. They've only lost one game since New Year's Day.

"They have a very good set piece, one of the best forwards to ever play the game in the middle there in Paul O'Connell, a strong scrummage and a strong lineout drive. They also have a passing 10. He's a good kicker as well, but [Ian] Keatley will bring the rest of the backs in play once they've won that gain line, and Keith Earls and Simon Zebo are quality players out wide.

"Like any team, if you're playing in a semi-final or final you'll be playing a quality side who are good in attack and defence. So we expect a real tough challenge against Munster.

"We know we have to get certain fundamentals right to win games no matter who we're playing against. It starts with being strong in defence, and we prepare on what we expect from Munster in terms of their patterns of play and what they might do at set piece. But if you've got someone you've got to tackle ahead of you, you've got to knock him down, so we know we have to do that to stop them getting any momentum.

"On the other side, obviously, when we have ball we know we've got to be accurate. We'll have to work hard to create opportunities, but if we do - in finals, you've got to take them."

In selecting his team, Townsend has sought a balance between that creativity and the destructive power needed to stop the Munster juggernaut from grinding through the gears. In particular, the return of Rob Harley and Ryan Wilson to the back row has been made with that task in mind.

"We know he'll be fresh," Townsend said of Harley. " We believe that playing against this Munster team, he'll be the perfect foil for what we expect them to do."

The pairing of Leone Nakarawa with Jonny Gray in the second row means there is no starting place for Al Kellock in his final game with Glasgow - but nor is there any place for sentiment when it comes to choosing a team for such a big match. "It was a big selection decision," Townsend continued. "We feel Al's presence or impact at the end of the game will help us win."

Asked how Kellock had taken his omission, the coach added: "Great. I had to speak to the players on Tuesday morning. He was the first one I spoke to, and he's been terrific. He got behind the team as you would expect, and he's very motivated to get on the field."

Townsend's burgeoning reputation as a coach will be further enhanced should his team win tonight, but he suggested that the key to victory might be an attribute that cannot be coached: the kind of cool creativity that, with just a few minutes to go in the semi-final, saw Finn Russell sling out an audacious scoring pass to DTH van der Merwe.

"That's all down to them," Townsend insisted when asked if such self-possession under pressure could be taught. "The more experience they get of that, you see them seizing their opportunities.

"That's the most satisfying thing about being a coach, seeing a player grab his opportunity and step up to the mark. But it is all down to them.

"You can create an environment where they get an opportunity or they get into that position. But they are the ones who have to get over the line. It was great to see them do it last week."