Glasgow Warriors have taken their lead from another set of Warriors in the scheme many credit for their blistering run to the Guinness PRO12 play-offs, assistant coach Matt Taylor revealed.
Head coach Gregor Townsend spent some time observing the mighty Wigan Warriors from the other rugby code and his rotation system to keep his team fresh has been pinched directly from Shaun Wane’s system at the league giants.
With eight wins in succession, Glasgow know that winning their final two games – against Zebra at Scotstoun tomorrow and at Connacht the following week – will give them a prized home semi-final and a route to the final at BT Murrayfield on May 28.
Taylor pinpoints Glasgow’s squad system – they’ve used nearly 60 players this season, far and away the most in the league – as a reason for their usual end of season surge.
“Gregor has done a great job over the last few years of rotating people and giving guys chances,” he said. “We took a bit out of Wigan’s book a couple of years ago – they felt that was what provided them with a couple of Premierships, because they give people opportunities and kept the team fresh.
“We certainly seem to be climbing at the back end of the season when other teams might be dropping off. That probably has a bit to do with the rotation policy – giving guys opportunities and keeping guys fresh.”
It’s been even more pertinent this season with the World Cup fitted into the schedule, added Taylor.
“The World Cup is such a massive event that you come out the back of it quite drained physically and emotionally, players and coaches,” he agreed.
“The players probably took a while to gel after that, but they’ve now hit their straps and come together and that’s great because we are now at the business end of the season. You want to be gelling and you want to be building momentum and that’s what we’re doing.”
A bonus point win to follow the one Glasgow got in Parma three weeks ago is vital with Connacht also likely to pick one up against bottom club Treviso, setting up an effective play-off for home advantage in the semis at the Sportsground in Galway, but Glasgow aren’t getting ahead of themselves.
“I don’t think there will be any complacency this week,” said Taylor. “We had a really tough job breaking Zebre down the last time we played them. We were behind at half-time and it took us the whole 80 minutes.
“We really want to win the next two games to make sure we get a home semi-final. That’s really driving us on. We had really good training sessions over the past few days and the boys are really focused and keen to continue what we’ve been doing in this winning run.”
A week’s gap has allowed Peter Horne, man of the match in Parma, to begin training after a concussion.
“Pete trained today so he will be one of the guys in the reckoning,” said Taylor. “He is very competitive, a great defender and he holds people accountable.
“Training has been very competitive because everyone wants to play. But our biggest asset is a togetherness, everyone from the international players to the academy boys is fully involved.”
