Glasgow Warriors will be without key men Josh Strauss and Stuart Hogg for their trip to Bath to try and win a European Rugby Champions Cup quarter-final place.
Both have not recovered from injury in time for selection, and further injuries as well as the continuation of the assault trial of two more of his players has forced Gregor Townsend to take some risks in selection for what is the Warriors’ biggest game of the season.
Both Ryan Wilson and Ryan Grant, standing trial for alleged assault at Glasgow Sheriff Court, have been left out of the matchday squad, and the lack of fit back rowers means that Fraser Brown, in the Scotland squad as a hooker, will play at open side.
Strauss has not recovered in time from the ankle injury he sustained against Montpellier last Sunday, while Hogg passed strength tests on his hamstring but will not be risked.
The Warriors have also had to recall club captain Al Kellock with Tim Swinson suffering from a calf injury.
Townsend remains confident his re-cast side can get the victory he believes will take them through to the last eight in the top European competition for the first time.
“It’ll take out best performance of the season, no doubt,” he said. “I think it took our best performance of the season so far to beat them in the first game of the pool.
“A lot’s happened since that day and they had a lot of injury problems going into that game. They’re certainly flying now as a result of winning so well in Toulouse last week.”
However, Townsend continued, there were similarities between the teams’ last meeting and this one.
“They were second in the Aviva Premiership then, they’ve just got back there now,” he pointed out. “They were also coming off the back of a confidence-boosting win against Leicester before they played us.
“There’s no doubt they are a formidable side and I think we will see (rugby league convert) Sam Burgess at some point in the match, so we’re looking forward to that.
“They played superbly last week but Toulouse didn’t manage to shut them down, that’s something we’ll be looking to do.”
Sean Maitland, who has just agreed terms with London Irish to leave the Warriors in the summer, starts at full back with Mark Bennett, a double try-scorer in the first meeting, returning to the centre.
Henry Pyrgos returns after a spell of injury to start at scrum-half, with Gordon Reid and Mike Cusack the props. Richie Vernon, who has made all his starts in the centre so far this season as part of the long-term plan to turn him into a back, will start at No 8, the position where he won the majority of his 20 caps for Scotland.
Brown’s selection at seven would appear to be the biggest risk, and he’s preferred to youngster Will Bordill. He has played as an emergency replacement in the position but the last time he started at 7 was in club rugby.
Although the permutations are complex, Townsend believes that an outright win for either side will book a quarter-final.
“It’s effectively a last 16 game,” he said. “It’s knockout rugby now and it asks different things of the players.
“The Clermont-Saracens game kicks off after us and may have a bearing, but I think other results leading up to Sunday lunchtime will result in both sides knowing what they have to do to qualify.”
Glasgow (vs Bath, European Rugby Champions Cup, Recreation Ground, tomorrow 1 pm live on BT Sport 2)
Sean Maitland; Tommy Seymour, Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, DTH van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos; Gordon Reid, Pat MacArthur, Mike Cusack; Jonny Gray, Al Kellock (captain); Leone Nakarawa, Fraser Brown, Richie Vernon.
Replacements: Kevin Bryce, Jerry Yanuyanutawa, Jon Welsh, James Eddie, Sean Lamont, Niko Matawalu, Peter Horne, Peter Murchie.