Glasgow’s trip to Montpellier in the European Rugby Champions Cup is the “big-time acid test” for the club’s aspirations, believes wing Sean Maitland.
The Warriors’ Scotland flier bagged a try in the five-try rout of Bath last week which by common consent was regarded as the performance of the first weekend of the new tournament, but the first of two successive trips to France will be watched closely all over Europe to see if the Scottish pro team are the real deal.
Maitland feels he needs a big show to state his claim for his Scotland shirt back in the upcoming November tests but the euphoria of the Bath game is already history, he stressed.
“This is the acid test, big time,” he said. “Bath’s gone, already. We started the Pool as well as we could have hoped, but we have to use that momentum to push on now.
“Montpellier are a massive challenge for us, they have a lot of exciting players. We haven’t won in France in a good while and it’s time to change that.”
The crowd at Montpellier’s Altrad Stadium might be as much a target for the Warriors as their formidable team, believes Maitland.
“They definitely get a big lift from the crowd at home and I was speaking to Rory Best about that, as Ulster played and won there in last year’s Heineken Cup,” said Maitland.
“He said that they were lucky enough to get a couple of early scores which helped take the crowd right out of it, and we’ve got to be looking to do the same.”
Maitland locked horns with Montpellier’s exciting former All Black Rene Ranger when they both played Suepr Rugby, while the French club’s Tom Donnelly is a former team-mate of the Scot from the Crusaders.
“Rene and I had some good battles when he was with the Blues and it’ll be good to catch up with Tom,” he said. “They’ve also got two Fijians on the wings (Timoci Nagusa and Viriviri Nasagavesi) who look a bit special.
“But we’ve been up against Tommy Bowe the other and big Semesa Rokoduguni for Bath last week so it never gets any easier, and you don’t want it to, really.”
Gregor Townsend rarely leaves a team list the same for two weeks in a row but four changes is actually pretty reserved for the Warriors head coach.
He restores skipper Josh Strauss after injury for Adam Ashe, Tim Swinson starts instead of Leone Nakarawa in the second row, but of most interest to Scottish and Warriors fans is the midfield combination with Finn Russell and Alex Dunbar both starting.
Dunbar missed three matches with a dead leg but was man of the match twice before that, and the trio of Russell, Dunbar and the rising Mark Bennett looks like it could be a Scotland midfield this November.
“It’s a blend we’re looking at, the type of game we think Finn will bring,” said Townsend. “He’s done well in big games for us before so we felt it was an opportunity to show what he can do in a big European game.
“Mark’s playing at the very top of his game and we’re delighted he’s in the Scotland squad. It shows what options we have, Peter Horne was outstanding last week as well.
“Montpellier are a great side, eight nationalities in their squad, ex-Wallabies, All Blacks, Springboks, some good French guys and some really exciting backline players.
Playing away from home with their crowd makes it even more of a challenge but it’s why I believe this is the best tournament in the world, the standard of opposition but also the environments that you play in.
“They gain momentum through the crowd and they’ll come out fired up, and getting that late bonus point at Toulouse will make them feel that they are right in this competition.”