In analytical terms Glasgow Warriors head into one of their easiest matches of the season this afternoon at Allianz Park, but knowing what they do represents much more of a problem than any potential solution on the basis of past experience.
Reigning English champions lean towards the old Springbok ethic of making no secret of how they intend to play, merely challenging their opponents to do something about it.
It is an approach that can come unstuck, but only Europe’s best have got the better of them in this competition of late: Leinster, Munster, Toulon, Clermont Auvergne and Toulouse the only teams to have beaten them in the past five years. More to the point their forward power and Owen Farrell orchestrated efficiency has seen them go unbeaten on their home pitch at Allianz Park since a one point loss to four time Champions Cup winners Toulouse in 2014. That is the scale of the task facing Glasgow today and for all that the injuries that have ruled out skipper Callum Gibbins and Scotland back-row Matt Fagerson were far from ideal, they have forced the management down a selection route that might well work out favourably.
In personnel terms half the pack is changed, Jonny Gray and Siua Halanukonuka recovering from injury to strengthen the front five, but by fielding Rob Harley in the back-row to accommodate Tim Swinson, they are adding extra power, while the inclusion as a specialist openside of the feisty Chris Fusaro ought to ensure that they do not sacrifice too much by way of speed to the breakdown.
“What we know is they’ve got a massive pack, they maul a lot, so with Swinno and Rob on the park as well as Jonny we’ve got a really strong defensive lineout and maul,” explained head coach Dave Rennie.
“Rob’s been outstanding. I thought he was really strong at six last week and we’ve got a couple of loose forwards on the bench which should give us a bit of impact. It’s a horses for courses. We just thing this is the best pack to measure up against Saracens.
“Ideally, we want to be at the right end of the field early and in possession, where we are applying pressure. When we are without the ball we will have to be really brutal and try to get off the line and shut down their space. They are going to kick a lot of ball to us and try to apply pressure that way. We need to do a really good job around defusing that and maybe that will create opportunities for us to counter or find some territory. We are well aware of what’s going to happen. It will be a pretty brutal affair like it was last time I imagine. We have to make sure we really steel up for it. We expected to be pretty hostile in the first 20 minutes.”
Glasgow’s two most recent meetings with Saracens must inform their approach, the latest of them earlier in this campaign when they stood up well to the English side physically, but were unable to take advantage of the opportunities they created for themselves and the previous one two years ago, before Rennie’s time in charge when, as captain Ryan Wilson acknowledged this week, they paid too much respect to their opponents and were well beaten in what remains Glasgow’s only appearance in a Champions Cup quarter-final. While, then, the changes to their pack may help them, they have sought to focus on being the best possible version of themselves.
“We’ve treated this game like every game,” said Rennie.“We’ve done our due diligence on the opposition, but there is a big focus on us and what we know we need to do. We have a good understanding of the enemy but we need to be at our best.”
It has been some time since Glasgow produced the sort of form that can give them any sort of chance today, but the coach felt there were encouraging signs against Cardiff Blues last Sunday.
“Last week was a good step up,” he said.“I thought we were really strong up front and that’s important in big games. We’ll have to scrum well, maul well and what I liked about last week was that we were patient. We built pressure and it told in the end. We were disappointed with some of our set-piece defence, especially from the backs perspective and that needs to be a lot better, but we will go down there are confident because we’ve trained really well and it’s a big game and we’re up for it.”
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