It could hardly have been more different from the challenge that will confront them in the Champions Cup next weekend, but Saturday’s five try defeat of their South African visitors served a greater purpose than simply allowing the Pro14 Conference A leaders to maintain their advantage in that competition.

The Cheetahs presented the type of opposition Glasgow would like to play every week, buying into the same sort of philosophy of looking to play everything at pace, but not quite at the same level as their hosts, resulting in a match that produced eight tries and a combined turnover count that was well into the thirties.

It was all very loose and entertaining for the masses, far removed from the intensity to be anticipated at Allianz Park when they bid to break their duck in Champions Cup knockout matches against England’s champions.

Unlikely as that remains, there were encouraging signs in the early evidence that skipper Callum Gibbins’ lay-off has not affected his dynamism as he blasted in for the opening try; in the way Fraser Brown showed his experience when communicating with referee George Clancy to help ensure that Zander Fagerson’s scrummaging superiority was rewarded with the sin-binning of Charles Marais as the Scotland prop demonstrated that he is ever closer to full fitness; and in the all-round excellence of Fagerson’s younger brother Matt as the fleet-footed No.8 earned the man-of-the-match award.

“It was awesome,” Fagerson jr reckoned afterwards.

“It just shows we can play that attacking brand of rugby that we’ve been doing all year. There were a few lapses at times but our ‘D’ held firm and we were really, really physical.”

Maybe so, but their line was crossed twice by Cheetahs winger William Small-Smith, as well as replacement hooker Joseph Dweba, whereas one try was enough for Saracens to secure their 13-3 win in the first of the trio of Champions Cup encounters and that was in Glasgow, rather than London.

Fagerson seemed convinced that Glasgow have found out enough from the pool encounters between the two to translate what they are doing in Pro14 into a winning formula against the two-time former European champions.

“Last time we went down there we matched them physically as well,” he reckoned.

“I thought up here, you don’t want to make excuses, but I thought we were unlucky to finish with the score that we did. I thought the boys put in an exceptional performance.

“We reviewed it and we went back down there and again the boys put on a great show for 60 minutes. That time at the end we sort of came off the pace so it will definitely need to be an eighty minute performance.

“When Saracens can’t play up front football they may find it difficult to spread it out wide and get that tempo that they want from the game, but they are a quality side, we are not going to take them lightly at all and we know they are double European Champions and we have to take that for what it is. They are a massive, massive challenge.”

The knee injury suffered by Pete Horne on Saturday may have complicated matters slightly, but with his younger brother and Ali Price both likely to return to the mix at scrum-half ahead of the weekend, as well as British & Irish Lions back three men Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour and Scotland centre Sam Johnson, Glasgow should have the firepower to cause Saracens problems if they can cope with the physical challenge.

Key forwards having been put through their paces as the Fagersons, Brown and Gibbins were and with the ever-willing Jonny Gray rested, so doubtless ready to tackle, tackle and tackle some more, they might just have a wee chance of doing so.

In Kyle Steyn and Stafford McDowall they also have different power-running options that Saracens have not previously dealt with, both centres registering tries, as did hard-running winger Rory Hughes and lock Scott Cummings.

The value of Saturday’s encounter may have been limited in terms of direct preparation, then, but Glasgow coach Dave Rennie was entitled to conclude that it had been doubly useful in offering reminders of what they must and must not do.

“We want to play what is in front of us (and) I thought we controlled the game really well with the ball in hand, but some of the little kicks in behind put us under pressure," he observed.

“Against Saracens you’ve got to kick because they put a wall in front of you, but the kicks need to be contestable or need to find grass, so we need to be a bit sharper, but we’re clear in what we have to do next week.”

As ever, knowing what is required and doing it may be two different things, but they look as ready as they can be for the challenge.