Glasgow will get more admiring glances across Europe if they impress a bigger audience and Sean Maitland believes there can be no greater opportunity than the cauldron of European champions Toulon.
The Rabodirect PRO12 leaders head to the south of France on Sunday for the Heineken Cup opening weekend perhaps the last of those in this format determined to prove they warrant a place among the continent’s premier sides.
The only way you achieve that billing, reckons the Scotland and Lions full-back, is to make a sizeable dent in the Heineken Cup.
“If you want to become a great team in Europe you have to do well in the Heineken,” he said, mindful that Glasgow have never qualified for the last eight and have often underachieved in the competition.
“There is a lot of pressure on us to impress. People don’t really talk about the Rabo being the strongest competition all you hear about is the Aviva Premiership and the Top 14.
“We have to establish ourselves this year. You look at the Leinsters and the Munsters and you have to make the next step and become a great team. The quarter-finals is something that Edinburgh have done but not Glasgow. That is a goal. We think we have a pretty good pool and we have to make the next step.”
The Warriors were not disheartened by the draw against last year’s Heineken champions Toulon, bankrolled by millionaire comics magnate Mourad Boudjellal and with a Who’s Who of top international talent at their disposal including Jonny Wilkinson, Argentina captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Wallabies Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell and Springboks Juan Smith and Bakkies Botha, among many others.
“The stats don’t lie. They are champions for a reason and have not lost at home for a while,” said Maitland.
“We know we are going into a lion’s den, a real cauldron, but there is a lot of self-belief in our team. We are five from five (in the PRO12) and feel we have the firepower to go down to Toulon and compete and compete well.
“We’re not fearful, we’re excited.
“Playing in front of big crowds in big games with everyone hostile to you is one of the best things in the game, everyone is buzzing about this match. These are things that rugby players dream about. Into a cauldron, 21,000 fans, backs against the wall. That is when you see a true team.”
Maitland also thinks that last year’s campaign, where Glasgow were competitive in every match although they only won their sixth and final game against Northampton, shows the next step is not far away.
“We have the confidence of five wins even if we haven’t put in a full 80-minute performance yet,” he said.
“And last year we really should have beaten Castres home and away, and they eventually went on to win the Top 14.
“No Scottish team has won any silverware in a while but we now have the squad and the depth with the right support and facilities.”
If last year’s catalogue of stars was not enough, Toulon added more in the summer including Maitland’s old Crusaders team-mate, the combative All Black lock Ali Williams.
“There’s a few New Zealand boys in the squad, and Ali and I played together for a year,” he said.
“It will be good to see his cheeky face! I don’t know if the guys back in New Zealand know how hard this competition is. I didn’t know how tough it was until I got over here and I thought, wow, this is the real deal.
“The Heineken Cup was a big motivator in coming here but the big one was Scotland. I was never going to play in France, I was always going to come to Glasgow.If I wanted to play for Scotland I would not want to play in any other country.”
Maitland hopes that Glasgow will brave the 100-yard walk through the gathered Toulon fans to the stadium from the bus park Leicester chose to sneak in the back door and avoid that confrontation last year and believes that they can win in the atmospheric, often frenzied Stade Mayol.
“I think it would be pretty cool to take that walk,” he said.
“To win would be a crazy feeling. Not only for the club but for the city. We have a goal in mind, we want rugby to grow. We don’t want to just hear about Celtic and Rangers we want to hear people talk about the Glasgow Warriors.”