Dan Parks will finally take on his old Glasgow team-mates in Galway this evening but Peter Murchie is ready for anything his former colleague can throw at him.
Parks has managed to avoid playing his old club since he left two seasons ago but is listed for Connacht in tonight’s Rabodirect PRO12 match which the Warriors must win to maintain their slim hopes of a home semi-final in the play-offs.
Glasgow’s fate is out of their hands with Leinster knowing a win at home to Ospreys will mean they host the Warriors next week but Murchie is one of those at Glasgow who is not assuming they are bound for Dublin.
“I don’t think we should be giving up the ghost in terms of a home semi; you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “Whatever happens there, it’s important we maintain momentum going into the semi-final.
“Knowing Dan’s type of character, he’ll be absolutely desperate to play against us I’m sure. I think it was unfortunate that he was injured for the first time.
“A lot of the play does come through him but they’ve got a big pack of forwards who generally try to control games as well, so it’s not all about Dan Parks.
“They love putting up a high ball so with Dan playing I’m expecting an aerial bombardment but I like the challenge of that.
“It’s a tough place to go. They’re a very proud bunch of guys, all massive, the crowd gets behind them and it’s difficult to play there because they play with a lot of emotion.”
Murchie returns to full-back as new Lion Stuart Hogg goes to the bench with touring team-mate Sean Maitland as Gregor Townsend rests that duo as well as Ryan Grant, Niko Matawalu, Josh Strauss and Al Kellock, with all but the skipper named among the replacements.
“I’m delighted for Hoggy and Sean that they’ve been chosen, but I’ve been disappointed not to have been playing. It’s been a few weeks now but I can’t wait to play again,” continued Murchie.
“It’s also given me the challenge to put in a pretty good performance to try to put some pressure on Gregor for the semi.
“There’s probably more than 30 guys who will be expecting to be in the 23-man squad for the semi-final so there’s going to be a lot of disappointment, and this is a big opportunity to put in a good performance and make life difficult for the coaches.
“There’s obviously also going to be a gap in the Scotland squad this summer with Stuart and Sean being away so I would imagine there will be a few guys who have their eye on their jerseys.”