Glasgow Warriors star admits it would be ‘arrogant’ to look ahead to final as coach praised for keeping players grounded
Glasgow Warriors star admits it would be 'arrogant' to look ahead to final as coach praised for keeping players grounded
Former Scotland captain John Barclay believes Glasgow may never get a better chance to make rugby history, but has warned of the perils of getting ahead of themselves.
Warriors are two wins from the Investec Champions Cup final and have home advantage not only for Saturday’s quarter-final against Toulon but also, assuming they advance, the Murrayfield semi-final against Leinster or Sale.
It is exactly that assumption, Barclay says, the men from Scotstoun must not make if they are to progress beyond the last eight in European rugby’s blue riband competition for the first time.
“I’m not going to say this game is a banana skin because that’s a ridiculous thing to say about a quarter-final in Europe,” said Barclay.
“But if Glasgow look beyond it, if they start thinking about a sold-out Murrayfield semi-final against, probably, their big rivals Leinster, they could quite easily slip up.
“Staying focused on the job at hand is their challenge, because we know they can compete. We know they can beat Toulon. But come the knockout stages, the top two inches are hugely important. It’s a mind game.”
“Arrogant of ourselves to be thinking about the final”
Glasgow could scarcely have arrived at the business end of the season in better nick. Top of the United Rugby Championship and number two seeds in the Champions Cup, they are also seemingly unbeatable at home.
Coming from 21-0 down to beat six-time champions Toulouse in the pool stages gave them both belief and an aura. Leinster, Munster, Saracens and the Pretoria Bulls have since left Scotstoun empty-handed.
But it takes only one defeat to puncture an air of invincibility, and Warriors lock Max Williamson admitted to The Offside Line it would be “arrogant of ourselves to be thinking about the final” given the obstacles between now and the May 23 showpiece in Bilbao.
Barclay takes comfort from the fact that Glasgow boss Franco Smith is one of the best in the business at keeping players grounded.
“He makes sure that when they’re good, they’re never as good as they thought they were,” said the former Warrior. “And when they’re bad, they’re never quite as bad as they thought they were.
“These days the fans go to Scotstoun expecting Glasgow to win and to win well. They have probably earned the right to do that because of what the team has done and Glasgow’s record at home.
“That’s the bit Franco has got to make sure doesn’t rub off on the players.
“Given Glasgow have never been past the quarters, I suspect there’s enough scar tissue and enough players with that scar tissue to keep them in the moment and say, ‘remember how hard this is, guys’.”
“Glasgow don’t seem to get flustered”
Barclay, who will be part of the Premier Sports team bringing all the build-up live on Saturday from 2pm, added: “What gives me confidence is Glasgow don’t seem to get flustered or in a flap by things not going their way. There’s a calmness to them even when things aren’t quite going to plan.
“They can win in many different ways and in Sione [Tuipulotu] they have the Scotland captain as their emotional heartbeat.
“You expect him to be a 9 out of 10, 10 out of 10 every single week, and that’s not taking into account what he does from a leadership point of view, which is significant. He’s got that big energy and drive to succeed.
“It is going to be a tough game. Toulon are a big physical, abrasive outfit, they’ve got some world-class players in there, including Ben White, who will be desperate to put one over on a Scottish team.
“You see a lot of teams that get to quarter-finals and semi-finals and lose and say ‘we learnt loads and we’ll be back next year’. Glasgow won’t want to be saying that.
“For me they are still coming in slightly under the radar but this is the best opportunity they will have for a while, given the players leaving the summer, the strides they have taken with a small budget and the likelihood that at some point Franco might be off.”
Premier Sports is the home of the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup across the UK and Ireland, with every game live from this weekend’s quarter finals plus the semi-finals and blockbuster Finals in Bilbao on 22/23 May. Visit premiersports.com to join in from just £11.99 a month to enjoy more than 400 live top-flight rugby games across the URC, EPCR, Top 14, MLR and Japan League One. @PremSports.tv