Munster will face arguably their toughest Champions Cup clash to date against Gregor Townend’s Glasgow Warriors at the weekend.
The Round 5 clash will have huge ramifications for both teams.
A Munster win will all but ensure that they receive the gift of a home quarter-final in European Rugby’s premier club competition.
Glasgow need to win this game if they want to keep their hopes of playing European rugby beyond the group stages alive.
It should be an absolute cracker and Munster will have no fear of playing the Warriors in Scotstoun, after already recording a victory at the Glasgow venue in the PRO12 this season.
Obviously, Townsend and his staff would have been watching Munster’s demolition job of Ronan O’Gara’s Racing 92 at the weekend.
They would have been hoping for Racing 92 to do them some favours, at least deny the Southern province from claiming all five points but at half-time, the result was inevitable.
Townsend told Sky Sports that both himself and his staff switched off the game at half-time and did not watch the remainder of the match, as the result was in no doubt.
“We watched it, the coaches, and switched it off after half-time when the result was a foregone conclusion.”
Townsend may feel aggrieved that his side had to face a much stronger Racing outfit earlier in the season but he admits that you cannot expect sides to field their strongest XV when you are already out of the competition.
“The tournament is what it is. You have to play the opposition you’re up against. We played Racing twice at the beginning and that’s just the way it is. We played really well to win both those games.”
The Glasgow coach is completely aware of how strong Munster are at the moment and the incredible challenge that his side will face as they hope to overcome one of Europe’s most in-form teams.
“Munster have played really well this season. They came very close to beating Leicester away in the last round. They lost that in the last kick of the game and I think that’s their only defeat in their last 10 games. So we know what a tough team Munster are. We’ve played them twice already this year.”
Those two games against Rassie Erasmus’ men both resulted in Munster victories.
Another win for Munster against Glasgow may yet just prove to be the most impressive of the lot.
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