Moving on from the “chastening” experience of Thomond Park last Saturday means Glasgow Warriors hope to recover their poise quickly with the help of two imposing new faces.
Glasgow return to action tonight after last week’s hammering by an inspired Munster against Benetton Treviso at Scotstoun with a near full-strength side and some interesting extra ballast on the bench.
However head coach Gregor Townsend took the rap for the way the team under performed against Munster and refused to fall back on the unique nature of that game in the wake of the sudden death of the Irish team’s totemic figure Antony Foley.
“We got things wrong and that starts with me in terms of our preparation, how we got the players into the frame of mind and focus to play that game,” he said.
“If we ever get into the same situation again we’d do things differently and be ready for it.”
The exact same situation will hopefully never occur again, but something similar is on the horizon, Townsend believes.
“There will be situations where we face a team or a crowd who have real passion,” he said. “I imagine Leicester at Welford Road in the last Champions Cup pool game in January will be one like that but for different reasons.
“We will go to places with our backs to the wall, against teams highly motivated to play us. The build-up might be different but it’s something that we can work on and prepare better for.”
In the meantime, Townsend has rested maybe only a couple of his frontline players for Treviso, recalling the fit-again Tommy Seymour and Simone Favaro, while Peter Horne is also back among the replacements.
But it’s the two bulky newcomers on the bench that will interest many, with Brian Alainu’uese and Langilangi Haupeakui set to make their Warriors debuts, although the duo are definitely on different timelines in terms of readiness, admitted Townsend.
“Brian’s just 22 but looks like he’s been playing the game at the highest level for 10 years,” said Townsend. “He picked up everything in training really quickly and his match fitness is really good.
“We had looked around for second row cover but he stood out, we got in at the right time and Dave (Rennie) helped with that, because Brian had played with the Chiefs and was in line for their squad next year. It’s great to get a player of that quality and get him over here.
“Langi is a little different because he’s been in pro rugby just six months; Greg Peterson said we should look at him and (USA Eagles coach) John Mitchell gave a really good report on him.
“His defence is his strength, but he’s also a good runner, explosive and his timing and lines remind me of a rugby league player.
“He needs to work a bit more on the intracacies of lineout, maul and scrum but conditioning and fitness wise he’s really good.”
Glasgow (vs Benetton Treviso, Guinness PRO12, Scotstoun Stadium, ko 7.35 pm, live on BBC Alba) S Hogg; T Seymour, M Bennett, A Dunbar, R Hughes; F Russell, H Pyrgos; A Allan, P MacArthur, S Puafisi; T Swinson, J Gray; J Strauss, S Favaro, R Wilson.
Replacements: C Flynn, D Sears-Duru, D Rae, B Alainu’uese, L Haupeakui, A Price, P Horne, L Jones.