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Glasgow have prepared for toughest La Rochelle team, says Matt Fagerson

Matt Fagerson has taken the lead for Glasgow this season.
Matt Fagerson has taken the lead for Glasgow this season.

Glasgow’s approach to La Rochelle at Scotstoun on Saturday hasn’t even considered whether the French side put out their best team after suffering defeat to the Warriors in Western France last week.

The Warriors’ victory in France ensured that La Rochelle’s interest in the Heineken Cup is over for another years, and head coach Ronan O’Gara is expected to bring a developmental team to Glasgow this weekend.

However Matt Fagerson – who has visited France with Glasgow twice and won both times, at Lyon and now at La Rochelle – says what team the French turn up with is essentially irrelevant.

“We will train for the best team La Rochelle can put out,” said the young back rower. “We won’t look at it and say ‘if it’s a B team and it’s bound to be a five-pointer, we can do this and that, change up and start chucking offloads everywhere.

“We do a lot of analysis, coaches might see one thing, players see another and then when it comes to the game we review it. They will do their analysis and say ‘this is where we got breached we will close that gap’ or ‘we put him round here to prevent that move’.

“We came off after Saturday and a win away in France but the boys were still a bit upset with the way we played, the way the team played, in letting them get such an early lead.

“We have a massive job to do this weekend, especially in front of our home crowd. They’re going to come here and we have to put on a show.”

Fagerson was even a bit peeved at a review in France’s L’Equipe that suggested Glasgow played pragmatic rugby – “hyper-realism” – in La Rochelle and didn’t do anything special.

“Nothing special? You have a cross field kick for a try and an intercept? It wasn’t pick and goes all day,” he laughed.

“We are not trying to pull everything out of our backsides, especially towards the end of the game. There have been games where we wanted to do that, but those are games where we are not getting any purchase, so let’s chuck a 20 metre pass over the top or people trying to do it on their own.

“At other times, we don’t get enough credit. When we have had some really good wins this season like the one against Sale, the forwards have done a massive effort, making headway in their carries.

“At times people see us as a flashy team but don’t see the hard grit. We have 100 percent line out in the Champions Cup and I think we had that last year as well but people don’t always notice that. The grit that boys had last season is coming back.”

Glasgow are appealing to fans attending Saturday’s game to bring donations for the Whiteinch Foodbank – run by the church in Glasgow of the same name – to be distributed during the festive season.

There wil be drop-off points around the ground from when the gates open at 3.30 pm until kick-off at 5.15. Tinned foods, cereals, soups, toiletries and selection boxes are specifically requested.