Connacht ready to rip into Glasgow as URC play-off fever builds in camp 

Connacht’s Cian Prendergast celebrates with fans. Pic: Craig Watson/Inpho

Connacht captain Cian Prendergast said they have landed in Glasgow with a pep in their step as they bid to oust the URC table-toppers and claim a place in the semi-finals.

Eight wins from their last nine league games have given Connacht huge momentum as they arrived in Scotland on Thursday ten years to the day since their most glorious moment ever a short distance away in Murrayfield when they lifted the Pro12 title by defeating Leinster.

Most of the current squad were in secondary school when John Muldoon lifted the crown but their current run is very reminiscent of the momentum they built up in 2016 under Pat Lam and claimed their first and only ever trophy.

The 2016 triumph has not been raised in the build-up to this one but Prendergast said that they are bouncing as they head into a knockout phase which seemed impossible when they only won two of their opening nine games.

“We're really excited as a group for this, because why would we put ourselves under so much pressure to win so many games towards the end of the season if you're not going to go out and compete, because you want to be in the play-offs. So we're really excited.

“There's a good buzz building in the group all week, and we're really looking forward to ripping into it,” said Prendergast.

The loss of top try scorer Seán Jansen is a huge blow although Paul Boyle will not be found wanting as Stuart Lancaster makes five changes from the side which secured the top half finish by winning in Edinburgh.

They are boosted by the return of lock Darragh Murray and hookers Dylan Tierney-Martin and Dave Heffernan as they take on a Glasgow side they beat in Galway in February with a try with the clock in the red.

Glasgow have bolstered their side since that game during the Six Nations but Prendergast said it is up to Connacht to concentrate on their own game as they bid for a first-ever win at Scotstoun and a third-ever away win in 19 visits to Glasgow, the last achieved at Firhill, home to Partick Thistle FC, back in 2010.

“I think for us it's about the controllables in terms of restarts, our breakdown, accuracy at line-of-time, accuracy at launch, so that we're not giving anything away easy,” added Prendergast.

“So for us it's about making sure that we're accurate in everything we can control, and then we pride ourselves on our defence, but playing an opposition like Glasgow, you can't give them whatever, I don't know, did Edinburgh get 22 entries into our 22? We can't give a team of Glasgow's quality that many entries. So for us it's about cutting that out and trying to play with the ball a little bit more.” 

Glasgow Warriors: J McKay; K Steyn (capt), S McDowall, S Tuipulotou, K Rowe; D Lancaster, G Horne; P Schickerling, J Matthews, Z Fagerson; S Cummings, A Samuel; M Fagerson, R Darge, J Dempsey. 

Reps: G Hiddleston, R Sutherland, S Talakai, J Oguntibeju, E Ferrie, S Valianu, J Oliver, O Smith.

Connacht: S Gilbert; S Jennings, J Devine, B Aki, A Bolton; J Ioane, B Murphy; B Bohan, D Tierney-Martin, S Illo; J Murphy, D Murray; C Prendergast (capt), S Hurley-Langton, P Boyle. 

Reps: D Heffernan, P Dooley, F Bealham, J Joyce, S O’Brien, M Devine, H Gavin, S Naughton.

Referee: A Jones (Wales).