WITH two games to go, Glasgow Warriors have been challenged not just to qualify for a home Guinness PRO12 semi-final but to make sure they secure top spot in the league to catapult themselves into the knock-out phase with healthy momentum.
To achieve that, admitted Henry Pyrgos, the scrum-half, they are going to have to raise their game from the patchy performance that was good enough to secure all five points in Connacht but would have been punished against superior opposition. Slow starts to both halves created problems for his team that sides such as Ulster and the Ospreys would be likely to exploit more ruthlessly.
"Looking towards semi-finals and finals and things like that, there were things we not quite accurate with," he said. "We did grow into it, calmed down a wee bit, got into our shape and got on the front foot. When we did that we found space - we have some dangerous runners out wide. The forwards with ball in hand did well, too.
"It is great we are sitting top but ultimately this does not mean a lot, when you get to a semi it is all on the day. We do want to finish top of the league, that would be a huge achievement for the club. I hope we can keep playing well in the two massive games to come and give ourselves that home semi-final.
"The first 15 to 20 minutes, when there was a bit of wind against us, they put us under a lot of pressure, but we grew into the game, our forwards started to get front foot ball, we grew and got a bit more accurate and it was great to see that the chances we got was that we took them well."
Though the team knew they had qualified for the play-offs before their match in Ireland started, they know that any two of the leading four sides could go on to earn that home semi-final that is the key to reaching the final in Belfast at the end of May - no team has ever won an away semi-final in the PRO12.
With the top four sides all to play each other and Glasgow two points ahead of the chasers, Gregor Townsend, the head coach, reckons one win from the final two games should be enough to make sure they stay at Scotstoun when the knockout phase kicks in, but, as Pyrgos pointed out, getting there with real momentum is also important.
"There are things to work on," he added. "We did not play as well as we wanted to in Connacht, but it is a hard place get a win so we are really happy with the result and will work hard to improve before we play the Ospreys away. We are club that looks at performance a lot. Connacht put us under pressure, it was a tough game, but there were things that were not where they need to be."
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